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TRUE TREATISE

ON THE ART OF

FLY-FISHING,

TROLLING,

ETC.,

AS PRACTISED 05 THE DOTE, AKD 05 THE PEI5CIPAL

STREAMS or Tk'E'M^DLAE'D tOliVTl^l .'

' ,' > >•> 111 ' ' ' , > 1 ,

•J * J t M , , , ' m ' •* * ; 1

APPLICABLE TO EVSPY iTJEioUTi A^D GRAYLING

RIVER In tll^ CiMpiREl

. • ' • , '' '
'" , ' . .
' > < . , ' ...

• 1 >

• • • '.

• • • « t J

BY WILLIAM SHIPLEY.

EDITED

BY EDWARD FITZGIBBON, ESQ.

LONDON:
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO.;

SOLD ALSO BT THE AUTHOR AT ASHBORNE,
AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS.

183B.

ringly with like truth and justice to both
parties. Happily for me I have found
them, and I can liberally and conscien-
tiously do so.

The modest work which I have just
completed, in conjunction with a friend,
relates, as its title tells, to angling on the
several streams of Derbyshire and Staf-
fordshire, and it refers more particularly
to fly-fi§htn^*.Qji *iUa*Tldfe, which in

/"••••• • • • ♦•••"•

several partguis tl|e«|ifttjarfil boundary that
divides theSe trtjOffSfifc » ' It has already
proved an :iii\callfaol6*f iedmmendation to
this work, to have received permission
to dedicate it to two of the most respec-
table and influential gentlemen that pos-
sess beautiful mansions and wide domains,
in the vicinity on each side of the before-
mentioned, enchanting, and far-famed,
river. The many Noblemen and Gentle-
men — chiefly resident in the midland

counties — ^who have done me so great an
honour, and, I trust, conferred upon ine
so lasting and solid an advantage, by
permitting me to place their powerful
names on my subscription list, have been
mainly induced to do so, through a cer-
tainty that nothing frivolous — nothing
dishonourable — nothing immoral — no-
thing irreligious — in fine, nothing un-
worthy of the notice of the Noblemen
and Gentlemen of Derbyshire and Staf-
fordshire could appear fostered by the
auspices of the Houses of Boothby and
Russell. Gentlemen, need I then aver,
that I feel myself bound towards you and
your families by ties of the most fervent
and undying gratitude? If it be at all
necessary to make such an asseveration5
I will do so with the profoundest humility
and sincerity, and with a fixed determi-
nation, strong and immoveable as human

Xv>

» ■ <

1 ■»-

^^%7c^f

^ri

'^'^^r,

9h.

^^^o^Z^lJ-^n^

•jt

''^C:

Rev. R. W. Vevert.

Rev. Granville Granville.

Rev. Court Granville.

Rev. Clement Broughton.

Rev. Bryan Bronghton.

Rev. J. L. Petit.
«Rev. Henry Bnckston.

Rev. German Buckston.

Rev. William Webster.

Rev. George Bake.

Rev. Genrase Brown.

Rev. Henry Goodwin.

Rev. Hugh Wood.

Rev. R. iJnwin.

Rev. Oliver Raymond.

Rev. Francis Martin.

Rev. George Belcher.

Rev. G. P. Lowther.

Rev. Sampson Kingsford.

Rev. J. H. Coke.

Rev. G. E. Gepp.

Colonel Bainbrigge.

Colonel Riddlesden.

Major Wilkinson.
« Captain Norman.

Captain Granville.

Captain Riddlesden.

Captain Wm. Martin.

Lieutenant Jenkinson.
*D. Watts Russell, Esq., (six

copies.) '
•Richard Manly, Esq., Manches-
ter, (three copies.)
•Benjamin Heywood, Esq., ditto.

John Hobson, Esq., ditto.

William Blackwall, Esq., ditto.
•Maitland Dashwood, Esq.
•William Mundy, Esq.
•Abraham Wheatcroft, Esq.
•William Greaves, Esq., M. D.
•R. B. Mauclarke, Esq.
•Francis Bradshaw, Esq.
•Henry AUsop, Esq.

T. W. Coke, Esq.
Francis Wright, Esq.
William Fitz-Herbert, Esq.
Richard Fitz-Herbert, Esq.
Cecil Boothby, Esq.
Henry Boothby, Esq.
George Boothby, Esq.
Hugo Charles Meynell, Esq.
Godfrey Meynell, Esq.
Watkin Williams Wynne, Esq.
Edward Vernon, Esq.
Arthur Henry Anson, Esq.
Wilson Overend, Esq.
John Gisbome, Esq.
John Newton Lane, Esq.
Francis Hart, Jan., Esq.
Frederic Arkwright, Esq.
James Arkwright, Esq.
Edward Arkwright, Esq.
John Harrison, Esq.
John Harrison, Jun., Esq.
Court Granville, Esq.
Bernard Granville, Esq.
William Pole Thomhill, Esq.
John Stokes, Esq.
T. Sneyd Kynnersley, Esq.
John Silvester, Esq.
Edward Silvester, Esq.
Alfred Silvester, Esq.
Hubert Lill de Burgh, Esq.
D*Ewes Coke, Esq.
John Goodwin Johnson, Esq. late
John Goodwin Johnson, Jun.,

Esq.
William Webster, Esq.
Edward Webster, Esq.
William Webster, Jun., Esq. .
P. Bainbrigge Le Hunt, Esq.
William Boswortb, Esq.
Robert J. Hartshome, Esq.
Thomas W. Hartshome, Esq.
Christopher Harland, Esq.
Charles Harland, Esq.

John Cooper, Esq.
C. Kelly Cooper, Esq.
John CAiso, Esq.

Thomas Manly, Esq., Manches-
ter.

John Manly, Esq., ditto.

William Prickett, Esq., ditto.
George Tinker, Esq., ditto.

George Newton, Esq., Atherton.

Rupert Griffin, Esq.

William Tyson, Esq.

John Skevington, Esq.

Robert Goodwin, Esq.

Thomas Wise, Esq.

John Fox, Esq.

Edward Bell, Esq.

George Walker, Esq.

William Hurd Wood, Esq.

J. Harry Bnxton, Esq.

Henry Wilmot Buxton, Esq.

John Bnxton, Esq.

Francis Sandars, Esq., Derby.

Charles Sandars, Esq., ditto.

Charles Alkins, Esq.

— — Beyer, Esq.

William Taylor, Esq., Derby.

Robert Hindley, Esq., Sheffield.

Samuel Ward, Esq.
Robert Wynne, Esq.

Charles J. Sampson, Esq., (N. W.)

Richard Edensor, Esq.

F. F. Loder, Esq.'

John Penrose, Esq., Eton.

Samuel Marshall, Esq.

■ Wain, Esq.

Michael Ellison, Esq.

John Bostock, Esq.

John Gilbert, Esq.

John Brindley, Esq.

John Riddlesden, Esq.

— . Snmmerfield, Esq.,

Birmingham.
Whieldon Badderley, Esq.

C. C. Mort, Esq., Staffordshire
Advertiser.

William Phillips, Esq., Leek.

Charles Creswell, Esq., Notting-
ham.

Henry Monntford, Esq.

John Prince, Esq.

John Gould, Esq.

John Smith, Esq.

John Macqueen, Esq.

T. P. Johnson, Esq., M. D.,
Shrewsbury.

William Beresford, Esq., Wood-
seat.

John Mott, Esq., Lichfield.
*Mr. W. Greaves, Rutland Arms,
Bakewell.

Mr. Osborne.

Mr. Harvey.

Mr. Maskery.

Mr. Hoon.

Messrs. Dawson and Hobson.

Mr. Jones.

Mr. Joseph Wise.

Mr. C. Walker.

Mr. J. Monntford.

Mr. T. Gibbs.

Mr. Caley.

Mr. G. B. Greaves.

Mr. Marsh.

Mr. S. Dawson, Jun.

Mr. Thomas Tomlinson.

Mr. Bass.

Mr. Coxon.

Mr. Miers, Wheat-Sheaf Inn.

Mr. Swindell, Wine Merchant.

Mr. Ash, Wine Merchant

Mr. George Gtough.

Mr. John Gough.

Mr. J. Smith.

Mr. D. Shipley.

Mr. H. Stretton.

Mr. George Goodwin.

Mr. Oakden.

Mr. George Gemun, Derby.

Mr. Garratt, Ditto.

Mr. J. WhiUuun.

Mr. Lister.

Mr. Langford.

Mr. Fox, Dealer in fiahiiig-
tackle, SheiBeld.

Mr. W. Bower.

Mr. Wyers, fish-hook Maker,
Redditch.

Mr. C. Swann, Fish-hook Maker,
Redditch.

Messrs. Adlington and Hatchin.
son, Fish-hook Makers, Ken-
dal

Mr. C. White.

Mr. Waterfall, Inak-Walton Ho-
tel, Doye-dale.

Mr. Ford.

Mr. Goodwin, Bookariler, Bake-
weU.

Mr. F. Shipley, Nottingham^

Mr. Kidd, ditto.

Mr. Martin, ditto.

Mr. Hmry ToUin^gton, ditto,

Mr. John Quarton, ditto.

Mr. George Martin, ditto,

Mr. WiUiam North, ditto.

Mr. Garland, ditto.

Mr. J. Owencroft, ditto.

Mr. Joseph Mellows, Dog and
Pheasant, ditto.

PREFACE.

The treatise, comprised in the follow-
ing sheets, has been long and loudly
called for. When I make this assertion,
I do not mean to censure by any criticism
it may at first sight seem to imply, the
labours of other writers on the same sub-
ject. I merely state a fact. That fact
must be an apology for my assuming in
the face of the public the superiority —
certainly not on a matter of vital impor-
tance to society — that is supposed to
attach to the character of authors. To
prove the fact, I shall write that which
every body in the neighbourhood knows
to be a true story.

My father, the late William Shipley
of Ashbome, in which town he was born
and resided until he had fully completed
the term of years allotted to the age of
man, was the best fly-fisher that appeared

XIV

on the banks of the Dove during the last
fifty years. I do not say this so much of
my own judgment, as of that of all who
knew him. Even the irritable, and, I
fear, enviable race of anglers by trade —
a race remarkably constipated when they
are asked their opinion of the merits of a
rival, or when they are asked for any
useful information relative to their craft,
lest, by freely giving it, they may injure
their own reputation — universally ac-
knowledged, I do not say to strangers,
but to those that knew both themselves
and my father, that, as a fly-fisher, they
never saw his equal. The gentlemen
resident in the neighbourhood, and those
who came from afar to fly-fish in the
Dove and the other streams adjacent to
it, and who must have had abundant op-
portunity of judging by comparison of my
father's merits^ invariably said, and, like
true and disinterested brothers of the
angle, took a pleasure in making the
avowal, that he was the most successful
fly-fisher they had ever fished with in any

country. I have in my possession, and
they are open to the perusal of any one,
many letters from many gentlemen resi-
dent in the various parts of the empire to
that effect.

Such being thie reputation of my father,
and it being known besides, that he had
left several memoranda behind him rela-
ting to fly-fishing, made from observation
during a successful practical experience
of upwards of half a century, and that
those documents were in my possession,
I have been solicited year after year, I
may say in truth, week after week, since
his decease, which took place about eight
years ago, to put them into a readable
shape, and communicate them to the
public. I should long since have done
so, but I doubted my own abilities to
perform the literary portion of such a
task. I felt it would be a matter of
chance and time, to find a gentleman
who united within himself a love and
practical knowledge of the art of fly-fish-
ing, and a capacity of communicating by

XVI

writing all he knew of it, all he might
learn from my father's notes, and all that
I could teach him orally. Time — ^the
great revealer of all things — of modest
merit and of cunning criminality-^
brought me into contact last year, at
Nottingham, with the very sort of co-
adjutor I wanted. At a single interview,
at the hospitable board of a relative,
I came to a -fixed opinion, in reference to
him; and reading shortly after certain
sketches of fly-fishing in Derbyshire,
which appeared in a celebrated sporting
London journal,* and from certain allu-
sions in them knowing them to be his, I
resolved (forgive the vulgar flippancy of
the expression) to hook him. The world
shall never know the bait I used, but he
took it freely ; and I had the pleasure,
towards the end of last January, of land-
ing him safely under my humble roof.
He arrived fagged from over-exertion in
certain literary engagements which he
had just completed in London, and dis«

* BeU's Life.

xvu

pirited on account of certain crosses in

; but, stop, I must not meddle with

the feelings of his heart, for they are the
only matters upon which a child may not
govern him, I treated him Derbyshire
fashion — my hospitality with that of my
family was, perchance, rude, but it was
frank-hearted. He seemed pleased with it,
rallied, recovered, made himself at home.
I showed him the scenery of the neigh-
bourhood, brought him suddenly on the
most interesting parts of the Dove, and
never shall I forget the fishing enthusiasm
excited in him by the sight of that lovely
stream. He uttered on its banks some
fifty rhapsodical speeches, all of them,
save one, in some language, or languages,
which I understood not. I feared he was
possessed of the " gift of tongues." He
became calmer, took me under the arm,
and turning his back upon the river, and
directing his steps homewards, he began
singing, not very melodiously by-the-by,
the following stanza :

• ••

XTIU

" Oh ! my beloTed nymph, fair Dove;
PrincesB of riyers, how I love

Upon thy flowery banks tx> lie;
And view thy silver stream.
When gilded by a summer's beam !
And in it all thy wanton fry.
Playing at liberty :
And with my angle, upon them

The all of treachery
I ever leam'd, industriously to try !"

" To-morrow we will set to work," said
he, and then we talked of divers matters
not connected with fishing.

In the morning I laid my fatherV notes
before him. He read them with silent
avidity, called me into the room, and
questioned me, touching my own fishing
acquirements, with as much preciseness
and pertinacity, as if he had been deputed
to examine me as to my fitness to4}ecome
chairman of the Walton-and-Cotton Club.
After an examination of more than two
hours, of which he took close short-hand
notes, he finished by assuring me in
rather a solemn tone, but which was yet
full of sincerity and earnestness, that.

XIX

" with the blessing of God, we should
manage a good and useful book on fly-
fishing betwixt us." I slept well that
night.

He has been frequently pleased to tell
me during the progress of toy work, that
the benefit he received from my oral
information was such, that, notwithstand-
ing my father's notes and his own know-
ledge, he could not have . produced a
standard work without it. I do not take
the compliment to myself. If I under-
stand any thing of fly-fishing, if I am the
** capital" fly-fisher he says I am, I owe
it to my father's instructions. Him I
followed throughout all my boyhood, and
during a great portion of my manhood, in
his fishing excursions-^him I observed —
him I listened to — I treasured up his
practice and his principles, and whatever
nlerit is due to my share in the work, I
willingly offer it as a just and due homage
to his memory, I have now stated why I
asserted at the out-set, that the following
work had been " called for ;" and I have

also given a rapid history of the circum^
stances under which it has been begun.

The text contains, therefore, the united
opinions, information, and instructions of
three individuals, founded on long, exten-
sive, and very varied experience ; and to
that text are added extracts from every au-
thor that has been considered of sufficient
authority to have his opinions placed in
juxta-position with our own. In quoting
an author, care has been taken to mention
his name. The reader will have, there-
fore, a new treatise on the art of fly-fishing,
and he will at the same time have an op-
portunity of dwelling on the instructions
relative to important and disputed points
of every writer of reputation. The plan
adopted will be found at least useful if not
amusing.

Touching amusement, I have a word or
two to say. I have been advised to allow
that to be a secondary point ; and know-
ing the sound judgment of those who were
friendly enough to tender me such advice,
I have followed it. The book, will, conse-

XXI

quently, be found rather a book of in-
formation than of mere amusement ; but
let the reader bear in mind, that it is
written on an amusing art, and he will
agree with me, that it would have been a
task of supererogation and of self-suffi-
ciency, to attempt " to paint the lily, to
gild refined gold/' It is written in a plain,
straightforward style, suitable, I hope, to
the subject ; but of that I dare not judge.
I tremblingly see the critic's rod lifted up
before me ; but while he wields it, let
him lay it on mercifully, when he reflects
that his victim is a meek and modest
** brother of the rod."

I hope that the different authors whose
names I have made use of, will perceive
that I have done so in a perfect spirit of
fairness, and with the laudable purpose of
disseminating as widely as possible a
knowledge and a love of the art we all
profess and are fond of. If I have done
^ny of them the slightest wrong, I shall
be ready, when it is pointed out to me

XXll

and proved^ to make any atonement and
compensation in my power.

In the body of the work I have express-
ed my deep sense of gratitude towards
each and all of my subscribers ; bat lest it
should be overlooked in the hurry of pe-
rusal, I here express it once more most
heart-fully, most sincerely, most grateful-
ly. To a few of those subscribers I have
a peculiar debt to acknowledge — ^for their
personal exertions in my behalf— and for
the loan of many valuable books. No
one knows with what cordial pleasure I do
so! I beg the following gentlemen to
receive my grateful thanks on the two
points just referred to — to Sir Henry
Fitzherbert, Bart., of Tissington Hall;
to the Rev. Brooke Boothby, of Ashbome
Hall; to the Rev. Court Granville, of
Calwich Abbey ; to Maitland Dashwood,
Esq. ; to John Silvester, Esq. Grove
Hall; to Richard Manley, Esq. Man-
chester; to John Stokes, Esq., of Oak-
over Hall ; to Rupert Griffin, Esq., Rose
Cottage ; to the Rev. Henry Buckston, of

zxui

Bradley ; to Charles Kelly Cooper, Esq. ;
to Wm. Hurd Wood, Esq. ; to John Bux-
ton, Esq. ; to Abraham Wheatcroft, Esq.
Cromford ; and to many of my more im-
mediate neighbours.

Some unavoidable errors will have, I
fear, crept into this work, for it has been
written, printed, and published in the
shortest space of time ever allowed for the
production of a work of its nature and
size. This, perhaps, is no commendation,
but a spirit of frankness induces me to
mention it, rather than a desire to put it
forward as a plea for the forgiveness of
errors. I beg the reader to bear in mind,
that in order to fulfill my engagements
with my subscribers, I have been neces-
sarily limited as to time, and that no
human foresight could guard against
delays which even the short space of a
few weeks may, in the best-concerted
matters, give rise to. Perhaps I am
making an unnecessary confession, and
that as few errors will be found in the
following pages, as in works which smell

XXIV

more rankly of a long and continuous

consumption of the ^^ midnight lamp,"

I have only to say, that I earnestly hope

so, and that I shall feel obliged to any

reader, who, on the detection of errors,

will point them out to me, in order that

they may be rectified in succeeding

editions — ^if called for.

W. S.

Ashborne, May 10, 1838.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

In Praise of Fly-JUhing, -
Page 1—17.

Reasons for sapposing that we can teach the art. — Lord
Byron and Izaak Walton. — ^Why we think fly-fishing the
highest branch of the art of angling. — Encouragements
for the fly-fisher : the sort of fish he catches, the nature of
the rivers he fishes in, and of the scenery he traverses
when in pursuit of his recreation. — Pliny's metaphorical
description of a river. — Fly-fishing not liable to the charge
of cruelty : insensibility of fish ; Sir Humphrey Davy's
opinion thereon; our own opinion: curious facts; one
related by Captain Medwin. — A fish caught by swallowing
its own eye ! — The humanity of the English people con-
trasted with that of the French, the Italians, and the
Spanish. — Out-of-door amusements : our opinion and
encouragement of them. — Beautiful sentiment of Sir H.
Davy. — Not a single angler to be found in the Newgate
Calendar ! — ^The sort of exercise undergone by the fiy-
iisher. — ^The end of the chapter propped by Atlas.

XXVI
CHAPTER II.

m
9

Same Sidyect continued.
[Page I&-33.

General description of the fly-fisher*s tackle. — Elegancy,
delicacy, and cleanliness of the art : Mr. Bainbridge quo-
ted. — ^The art a pursuit of moral disciplinci as it requires
patience, forbearance, and command of temper. — Its con-
nection with natural science. — Dame Juliana Bemers. —
The art suitable to Englishwomen. — It is of pure British
growth and practice : foreign fly-fishers '' few and far
between." — Several authorities quoted who have eulogised
the art : Mr. Taylor, Mr. Jesse, Mr. Fisher. — Remarkable
personages fly-fishers : George IV., the Duke of Sussex,
Nelson, Sir H. Davy, Charles Cotton, Dr. Paley, Robert
Burns, Professor Wilson, Mr. Hogg, the poets Thomson
and Wordsworth, Dr. Wollaston, Dr. Birch, Professor
Rennie. — Passage referring to our list of subscribers : Sir
Francis Chantrey, Sir Walter Scott.

CHAPTER III.

On the Choice, Make, Materials, and Qualities of a Mp^rod.

Page 34-^1.

The necessity of having a rod of perfect formation : our
own opinion, and the care we have taken in forming it. —
The different species of wood proper for the several joints
of the fly-fisher's rod : Bainbridge's advice on one point
recommended. — The proper size of rings pointed out : ma-
terial of which the loops that hold the rings are to be made.
— A common and great defect in rods : Irish rods, opinion
on. — How a rod should taper. — ^The joints that do most

xxvu

work. — Care to be taken in tying up yoar Joints after
fishing. — Length of a rod.*-Bainbridge*8 method of pre-
serving a rod after use. — ^The oldest method of making a
rod. — A lady's recipe, and observation thereon. — The di-
rections of Sir John Hawkins and of Mr. Taylor.— Supe-
riority of the rod *^ of two parts, without ferrules/' in cer-
tain cases, and objections to it. — Mr. Hansard and Colonel
Hawker's advice.— Weight of rods. — Further directions by
Mr. Alfred Ronalds, Mr. Professor Rennie, and Mr.
Bainbridge. — Concluding remarks.

CHAPTER IV.

On the best sorts of Lines, Reels, Hooks, S^c,

Page 52—73.

Length of a reel-line for the Dove, and the other
streams of the midland counties. — Objections to a reel-
line when entirely made of silk or hair. — The best compo-
nent parts for a line. — Minute instructions relative to
lines of different lengths.— The best colour, &c. — ^Tbe reel-
lines we always use ourselves. — Casting-line : of what sort
of gut it ought to be made; how to knot the links to-
gether ; its length to be modified according to the number
of files you fish with ; instructions upon that head.— A
link of twisted horse-hair recommended to come between
the reel and casting-lines. — Advice as to what sort of horse-
hair ought to be used. — Our way of dying or staining gut.
—Walton, Johnson, and Bainbridge's directions on the
matter. — Hooks: the best manufacturers; the proper
sizes, and the different modes of numbering them. — The
<< sneck-bent" recommended. — ^The opinions of Sir H.
Davy, Mr. Ronalds, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Fisher, Professor
]%ennie, Mr. Stoddart, and Colonel Hawker, with respect

XXVlll

to hooks. — Majority in favour of O'Shaughnessy's Limerick
hook. — Our own opinion notwithstanding. — Directions
how to make hooks. — Reel : the sort of one we prefer. —
Mr. Bainbridge's advice. — How and where a reel is to be
attached to the rod. — Doctors disagree. — Colonel Hawker's
authority. — Landing-net : its use particularly insisted
upon ; its size, with that of its handle and hoop. — Clear-
ing-ring described, and mentioned as a most useful ap-
pendage to the fly-fisher. — Fishing-basket, one word rela-
tive to : our wish. — The amber ale of Ashborne.

CHAPTER V.

On Throwing the Line ; Hooking, Playing, iMnding, and

Killing a Fish.

Page 74—99.

Importance of these several operations. — Meaning of
" He throws a fly as well as any man in England." — How
to commence throwing the line. — ^The way the process is
performed. — When to begin using the casting-line and
flies. — Not necessary for a beginner to endeavour to throw
against the wind ; difficulty of doing so, and its impor-
tance ; how to succeed in the operation. — How to throw
your flies when the wind blows either from the right or
left. — Mode of fishing a stream. — Frequent casting recom-
mended. — When a fish commonly takes a fly. — Casting-
line alone to touch the water, whenever practicable. —
Necessity of keeping the flies in view. — ^The parts of
streams that should be fished most carefully. — The only
time the '' still deeps" should be fished. — When a fish is
seen to rise at a natural bait, how to act. — Fish '^fine
and far off." — Authors quoted on the way of throw-
ing the line : Mr. Ronalds, Mr. Rennie, Mr. Carroll,

XXIX

Mr. Cotton, Mr. John Sidndy Hawkins, Mr. Taylor,
Colonel Hawker, and an anonymous ancient author.-—
Hooking or striking a fish ; when and how to do so ; what
advice is to be rejected, and what followed ; a word or
two from Mr. Rennie and Mr. Ronalds on the subject. —
Playing a fish. — How to judge whether you have hooked a
fish firmly or not : in either circumstance the method to
be adopted. — Th^ best general mode of playing a fish. —
Importance of giving a fish sufficient line, and caution to
be observed in doing so : our father*s successful practice.
— In what way length of line acts upon the fish and tackle.
— Keep your fish <' under buckle.*' — Playing a fish against
stream the worst practice possible : the reason : remarks
of Sir H. Davy : particular directions under peculiar cir-
cumstances. — Landing a fish. — The landing-net again
recommended : how to make use of it : important precau-
tions pointed out. — How to kill your fish : crimping, when
advisable ; its effects.

CHAPTER VI.

On the different Materials used for dressing Artificial Flies ;
and the simplest, shortest^ and best Mode of dressing them
pointed out.

Page 10&-128.

Opinion as to written instructions. — Plagiarisms of au-
thors. — Always use our own fiies. — All the arcana of the
art divulged. — Materials : the difi'erent sorts of silk ; fea-
thers for the wings and legs of flies ; dun-hackles and dun-
cocks ; other sorts of hackles ; dubbings, description of,
and where to be got ; herls and ribbing, where procured.
— Eight general rules for dressing flies laid down : 1. to
make a plain hackle; 3. how to make a palmer-fly; 3.

A 3

XXX

how to make the same fly ribbed with twist ; 4. how to
make a wiDged-fly with simple dabbing ; 5. how to make a
groQse or a wren's hackle ; 6. wiog^d-ily, with hackle for
legs ; 7. fly with wingps, dubbing for body, and hackle for
legs ; 8. how to dress the most difficult sort of fly. — ^The
advantages of our method of fly-making pointed out. —
Cotton's method and directions, and all that is taught by
them. — Opinion of the directions given by Rennie, Han-
sard, Best, Ronalds, Taylor, &c. — Judgment on Mr. Bain-
bridge ; the consequence : his directions for fly-dressing
given, in order that they may be compared with ours ; a
word or two respecting them, and our own instructions. —
Recipe for the only sort of wax that ought ever to be used
in fly-dressing.

CHAPTER VII.

A curious Controversy sharply commenced, and, it is hoped,

successfully concluded.

Page 139—143.

Modem geniuses. — The studies of fly-dressers have after
all only produced '^ pretended imitation :*' that the opinion
of a learned professor of zoology. — The routine school back-
ed against the ultra-scientific. — Lists entered with Mr.
Professor Rennie : his notes to Cotton ; his original work :
his manifest contradictions. — A few questions put to him.
— The assertion combatted, that species is quite unimpor-
tant, that all insects are equally welcome to fish, and the
larger they are the better. — March-brown and May-fly.
— Authorities quoted by Mr. Professor Rennie : our inter-
pretation of the assertions of those authorities. — ^The gaudy
or extravagant fly. — Mr. Bainbridge's salmon flies. — The
professor beaten with his own weapoi\^.— Sir H. Davy quo*

XXXI

ted by the learned professor in support of his heresy : our
counter-quotations. — ^The dragon-fly. — Messrs. Ronalds,
Taylor, and Hansard's opinions on the question of imitating
nature in dressing flies. — Why we thought it necessary to
write the chapter: concluding opinion. —Vignette of
Ashbome-hall.

CHAPTER VITI.

Flies for every Month in the Year.

Page 146—172.

Importance of this chapter. — According to whose method
the flies are dressed. — London-dressed flies : Messrs. Bow-
ness and Chevalier recommended. — Opinion of our flies. —
Size of flies. — Sir Humphrey Davy at Ham Hall : his
opinions and intentions with respect to our father. — List of
flies for January : red-brown fly — blue dun — refer to notes
— light-blue dun— golden palmer-fly — Esterhazy dun —
peacock fly. — Admonition to the reader.^— Flies for -Fc-
bruary : dark dun — ^plain palmer — red fly— another blue

dun — ^red dun — furnace fly. Flies for March : another

blue dun — dark-claret fly — description of the furnace-hac-
kle— another dark dun — winter brown— the March-brown,
or dun-drake : opinions with respect to this celebrated fly :
execution done with it : different ways of dressing or tying

it : commendations of this fly— March-brown dun-fly.

Flies for April : orange dun— cow-dung fly — golden and
plain palmers — grannom, or green-tail — light-blue dun —
yellow dun — stone fly — sand fly : our opinion of this excel-
lent fly: opinions of Messrs. Bainbridge and Ronalds.

Flies for May : spider fly — ^iron blue — another dark

dun — another sort of palmer— little yellow May-fly —

xxxu

lilver-twiflt hackle — fern fly. >—^ Flies for June: the
green-drake, or May-fly : history of this '* delicate and
fhigile creature :" reasons why this celebrated fly is placed
in our list for Jane : opinions of authors : way of dressing
this fly : how to die mallard's feathers for the wings of
the May-fly— grey-drake : Mr. Ronalds's remarks on this

fly— black gnat — peacock fly— light mackerel fly.

Flies for July: dark mackerel fly — ash fly— orange
dun — red ant fly— black ant fly—- wren's hackle— grouse

hackle. Flies for August : oak fly— little whirling^blue

—summer dun— peacock fly on smaller hook— brown fly.
Flies for September: little pale blue— willow fly-
golden dun— -cinnamon fly— an important nota bene,--^
Night Flies : white,. brown, and cream-coloured moths —
black docker— stone fly — instructions for night fishing. —
Guarantee of this list of flies.

CHAPTER IX.

On the Nature^ Habits^ and Organisation of the Common

Trout.

Page 173—185.

Source of our principal information. — Localities chosen
by this fish : character of it.— Spawning season.— Variations

in appearance in difiierent localities Opinions as to va*

rlety of species. — Consideration of strata, water, food :
consequences.— VertebrsB of Salmo Fario.-^Mr, Neill and
black-moss. — When the fish is in best season,- Interesting
experiment mentioned by Mr. Stoddart.— Sir H. Davy on
the colouring-matter of trout. — Weight and longevity of
this fish —London anglers for trout in the Thames. — Ex-
tract from Mr. Jesse's Rambles.— The most celebrated

xxxm

Thames anglers. — Minnow-spinning for troat in the
Thames. — Mr. Popham's water-spaniel an excellent trout
catcher.— Anatomical description of the trout. — Deformed
trout.— Right season, and right baits, for angling for this
fish.

CHAPTER X.
On the Nature^ Habits, and Organisation of the Grayling,

Page 186—211.

The grayling a local fish. — Rivers in which it is found.
—Supposition, that it was originally introduced into this
country by the monks.— In what sort of rivers the grayling
thrives best.- Size of this fish. — Spawning time, and when
in best condition. — Its food. — A migratory fish on the Eu-
ropean continent. — Grayling caught this year in the Dove.
^The term TAymaZZus.— When the fish ought to be dressed.
— Derivation of the word grayling. — Effiects of the large
dorsal-fin and swimming-bladder.— Anatomical propor-
tions of the fish. — Condensation of Sir H. Davy's excellent
observations relative to grayling. — The minnow taken by
this fish.— The best modes of fishing for. — Its habits. — Its
growth.— Best artificial flies for grayling-fishing.— Letter
from a gentleman resident on the banks of the Teme with
respect to the growth of the grayling, and recommending a
new method of angling for it. — Editor of the Literary
Gazette.— Our opinion of the new method.— Extract from
Izaak Walton. — Why this fish is called Umber. — Note on
an aristocratic distinction. — Vignette of Ilam-hall.

XXX17

CHAPTER XI.

On Trolling, Dibbing, or Dapingf 8^c.

Page S12-334.

Oar reluctance to write this chapter. — Advantages of
fishing with the minnow.— General description of this
mode of angling.— Best method, that practised by Maitland
Dashwoody Esq., of Dunse, Berwickshire. — Details of that
method.— Rod, line, reel, and hooks to be used in minnow-
trolling. — How to put on the minnow on the hooks. —
Trolling for salmon with a young herring.-— All the neces-
sary tackle described.— How to throw the minnow and spin
it in the water.— Where the best fish are to be taken. — A
second excellent way to bait with the minnow. — Fresh
minnows recommended. — Trolling for pike : general direc-
tions. — Mr. Jesse's method and directions. — His pike tac-
kle, and the baits he uses.- Method of trolling for pike and
perch practised by Mr. Charles Creswell. — Beeston Weir
and Clifton Qrove.- Artificial fiy for pike. — Dibbing or
daping. — Natural flies to be used : the green-drake, stone
fiy, window fiy, oak fly, and March-brown. — ^The best time
for dibbing"— its advantages— tackle to be used— how to
bait with the natural fly — floss-silk line recommended.—
Derbyshire in the drake-season.

CHAPTER XII.

Tlie Dove ; its Scenery : other Trout and Grayling Streams
in its Vicinity. Sketch of Ashbome} its Church, The
End*

Page 235-964.

Derivation of the word Dove.— The way we will describe
it.— Statistical description from Glover. — Useful note rela-
tive to Walton and Cotton. — Mr. Rhodes's sketch of the

XXXV.

scenery of the dale.— Inandations of the Dove.— -Cotton's
poetical description of it.— Our sketch of the Dove. —
Best fishing portions in the dale.— Scenery of Dove-dale
described.— The river from Coldwall-bridge to Hanging-
bridge. — Snelston-hall. — Calwich Abbey.— Dove Leys.
— The Dove from Rocester to where it falls into the
Trent. — ^The chief rivers and brooks in the neighbour-
hood of Ashborne. — ^That town described.^-lts church.
—Conclusion.

CHAPTER I.

IN PRAISE OF FLY-FISHING.

When an author chooses of his own free-
will a subject to write upon, it must of course
be supposed, that he is attached to it. Attach-
ment and devotion to a subject, whatever it
may be, whether it embraces an art or a science,
implies in a person of common sense, unsway-
ed by foolish partiality or caprice, a knowledge
of that subject. From our boyhood upwards
— and we have been now man and boy full
thirty years — we have been, and still are,
passionately attached to the amusement of
angling, at least to those higher and more
difficult branches of the art which come under
the heads of fly-fishing and trolling. Now
the range of our intellect must be very limited
indeed — we must be sadly deficient both in
memory and observation — if, for nearly a
space of time that would comprehend a quin-
tuple apprenticeship, we have followed, we may
say, perseveringly pursued, an art without

becoming acquainted with its* principles in
general and in detail. We will not mince the
matter^ nor assume a mock modesty^ which is
nothing more than the flimsy and threadbare
disguise of vanity and presumption ; but we
will, in the spirit of unaffected candour — and
a similar spirit shall be found running, in deep
vein, through every page of this book — ac-
knowledge our love for the art we write about,
and confess that we think we have practised
it long enough to become humble professors
of it.

If a man amuses himself innocently, it
neither becomes the philosopher nor the man
of the world to scoff at him, or to ridicule
contemptuously his pursuits. Live and let
live, amuse yourself, and let others do so like-
wise, is a charitable maxim, and one that
ought to be observed by all brothers of the
angle. While we observe it, while we studi-
ously avoid giving offence to the patient,
placid, plodding bottom-fisher — while we con-
sider him entirely free from the charges of
cruelty brought against him by the over-
weeningly sensitive and squeamish* — while

* Nothing ever hurled against angUng has alarmed
anglers more than the following lines from, in our opinion,
the best written, the most popular, and the most danger-
ously-immoral poem of our time :

we disclaim any thing that can he fairly con-
sidered as a cruel disposition on the part of
anglers^ we cannot refrain from exalting ahove
all others that division of the art of angling
in laud of which this chapter is written.

*< And angling too, that solitary vice,
Whaterer Isaak Walton sings or nays :
The quaint old cmel coxcomb in his gullet
Should hare a hook and a small trout to pull it."

Byroti's Don Juan, canto XII. tianxa 16.

Not only do these four verses contain severe and chosen
epithets of abuse launched against the common father of
anglers, but they convey a strong censure against the art
itself — the whole art of angling — calling it "a solitary
vice," that is, a vice of the very worst sort, since it must
be founded on self and unparticipated enjoyment. For
our parts we have always smiled at the noble poet's indig-
nation against the cruelty of anglers, and the more so,
since that indignation is expressed in a work, the hero of
which is a model of refined cruelty — one of those lax, yet
interesting young gentlemen, who think less of brealung a
woman's heart — be she maid, wife, or widow — than poor
quiet old Isaak would of paining a grasshopper. Angling
a "solitary vice!*' Gambling, dog-fighting, boxing, in-
trigues, both with married and with single, arQ certainly
not " solitary" vices ; but that is the only negativ^^piahe
that can attach to them ; and l^e who has been known to
indulge in and to patronise them, must have been in ra-
ther a maudlin mood when he spun the above veries.
Captain Medwin, in his Angler in Wales, who knew Lord
Byron, says of the noble poet, that " he was always strain-
ing at some paradox to startle with. I believe he never
threw a fiy in his life, or, except at Newstead, in some
dull pond, ever wetted a line, or used any other bait than
a worm." There can be but little doubt, that Lord Byron
did not mean his censure to apply to fly-fishers ; but, as
the text stands, it is directed against anglers in general,
and for that reason we have noticed it. In concluding
this note we beg to say, that ^e do not hold Walton wholly

In every art^ that branch of it which is most
difficulty and which requires the greatest ex-,
ercise of our ingenuity and of mental and
manual ability^ must be the most highly pri-
zed, the most interesting^ the most exciting^
and must be^ when completely mastered^ were
it only for the consciousness of superiority
that it inspires^ and the laudable complacency
that always accompanies the overcoming of
difficulties, the most amusing. Let us take,
for the sake of familiar illustration, the art of
painting. The mere' house-painter, in the
practice of his art, must feel less pleasure than
the sign-painter, the sign-painter less than the
portrait-painter, the portrait-painter less than
the landscape-painter, and the latter, though
the assertion, we are aware, will be contested,
less than the historical-painter, who exercises
his art in its highest and most refined state.

harmless of the charge hrought against him by Byron, since
the patriarch of the rod thus tells you to use your frog, that
he may continue alive : ** Put your hook into his mouth,
which you may easily do from the middle of April till
August; and then the fVog*8 mouth grows up, and he con-
tinues so for at least six months without eating, but is
sustained, none but He whose Name is Wonderful knows
how: I say, put your hook, I mean the arming-wire,
through his mouth, and out at his gills ; and then with a
fine needle and silk sew the upper ptrt of his leg with only
one stitch to the arming- wire of your hook ; or tie the frog's
leg above the upper joint to the armed wire ; and in so
doing, use him as though you loved him, that is, harm him
as little as you may possibly, that he may live the longer."

The amusement derived from angling has
likewise its gradations^ more or less intense,
liccording to the way in which it is practised.
The patient barbel-fisher, who is obliged to bait,
night after night, his fishing-gi-ound, and to sit,
hour after hour,, watching the bending of his
rod or the sinking of his float, and who, in the
end, can only hope to catch some of the worst
fish that swim in our rivers, enjoys an
amusement less exciting than the middle-
fisher, that is, than he who trolls with a
minnow for perch or trout, or with a gudgeon
for pike; and the middle-fisher's pleasurable
excitement is less than that of him who angles
at the top, or fly-fishes. The fly-fisher has
chosen the most difficult branch of the art of
angling, and as little really worth possessing
is given to us in this world without some

portion of pain and labour, he enjoys, when
the pain and labour of learning his art is over,
a pleasure far keener than that of those ang-
lers who do not venture beyond the lower
and more easily-acquired divisions of the art.

One of the first encouragements that pre-
sents itself to the fly-fisher is, that he knows
that he is in pursuit, not of the coarse fish —
the vilains — of the water, but of those which
in form and in flavour are the finest and most
delicate, and, (without meaning any ofience to

the class to which we ourselves belong, but in
order to use an epithet in contradistinction to
the French one already used with respect to
all coarse fish), which we will call, the aristo-
cracy of the water.* The fish that generally
take the fly are the salmon, the trout, and the
grayling, with their varieties, and every body
will allow that they are the noblest, the best^
and the most beautiful of the firesh-water
finny tribe; and every fisher of any experience
will also allow, that the streams and rivers in
which those fish are found, are, with respect to
the nature of their waters, the variety of the
channels through and over which they flow,
the country in which they are situated, the
formation of the banks that confine them,
and the diversity of the scenery that sur-
rounds them, the most romantic and the
most picturesque of all those that irrigate,
fertilise, and beautify the most enchanting
districts of the happy land we live in.f

* The only thoroughly coarse fish — the only vilain or
worthless plebeian of the waters — that greedily takes a
fly, is the handsome bat tasteless chub. The pike, the
. roach, and dace, also take the fly ; but though we cannot
place them amongst the aristocrats of the water, we may
safely say that they bek)ng to the respectable portion of
the middle classes.

t Sir Humphrey Davy, encouraging a young fly-fisher,
holds out the following allurement : ** And 1 think I can
promise you green meadows, shady trees, the song of the
nightingale, and a full and clear river.

The fly-fifiher, therefore, in addition to the
encouragement of feeling that he is in
pursuit of high game, knows that it is to be
found among those scenes, in embellishing

" PoiETES :— This last is, in my opinion, the most poeti-
cal object in nature. I will not fail to obey yoar summons.
Pliny has, as well as I recollect, compared a river to hu-
man life. I have never read the passage in his works, but
I have been a hundred times struck with the analogy,
particularly amidst mountain scenery. The river, small
and clear in its origin, gushes forth from rocks, falls into
deep glens, and wantons and meanders through a wild and
picturesque country, nourishing only the unculjtivated
tree or flower by its dew or spray. In this, its state of
infancy and youth, it may be compared to the human
mind in which fancy and strength of mind are predomi-
nant — it is more beautiful than useful. When the dif-
ferent rills or torrents join, and descend into the plain, it
becomes slow and stately in its motions ; it is applied to
move machinery, to irrigate meadows, and to bear upon
its bosom the stately barge — in this mature state, it is
deep, strong, and useful. As it flows on towards the sea,
it loses its force and its motion, and at last, as it were,
becomes lost and mingled with the mighty abyss of waters.

'< Halieus : — One might pursue the metaphor still fur-
ther, and say, that in its origin, its thundering and foam,
when it carries down clay from the bank, and becomes
impure, it resembles the youthful mind afi*ected by dan-
gerous passions. And the influence of a lake, in calming
and clearing the turbid water, may be compared to the
effect of reason in more mature life, when the calm, deep,
cool, and unimpassioned mind is freed from its fever, its
troubles, bubbles, noise, and foam. And, above all, the
sources of a river — which may be considered as belonging
to the atmosphere — and its termination in the ocean, may
be regarded as imaging the divine origin of the human
mind, and its being ultimately returned to, and lost in,
the Infinite and Eternal Intelligence from which it origi-
nally sprung." Salmonia, page 17*

which all-bountiful Nature seems to have
exerted herself with all the generous and
unsparing love^ and disinterested and deHcate
devotion, of maternity.

Fly-fishing is exempt from the principal
drawbacks attendant on the other modes of
angling. In the first place, the charge of cruel-
ty cannot, with any justice, attach to it. The
fly-fisher* tortures no insect, no reptile, no
living animal, in pursuing his recreation. He
uses artificial baits ; and even the charge, that
the fish he kills is put to unnecessary tor-
ture, cannot be thoroughly substantiated. Sir
Humphrey Davy, a great authority on any
point that relates to the organisation of fishes,
says, and we entirely agree with him, that
" it cannot be doubted, that the nervous sys-
tem of fish, and cold-blooded animals in gene*
ral, is less sensitive than that of warm-blooded
animals. The hook usually is fixed in the
cartilaginous part of the mouth, where "^here
are no nerves ; and a proof, that the sufierings
x>i a hooked fish cannot be great, is found in
the circumstance, that though a trout has been
hooked and played for some minutes, he will
often, after his escape with the artificial-fly in
his mouth, take the natural fly, and feed as
if nothing had happened; having apparently

* The artificial fly-fisher, of coarse, is meant.

learnt only from the experiment, that the arti-
ficial-fly is not proper for food. And I have
caught pikes with four or five hooks in their
mouths, and tackle which they had broken
only a few minutes before; and the hooks
seem to have had no other effect than that of
serving as a sort of sauce piqitante, urging
them to seize another morsel of the same kind."
Nothing can be said to beat down this argu-
ment, based as it is on absolute fact, unless,
indeed, some one have recourse to a subterfuge
of this nature, that he admits the facts re-
corded, but that they do not prove the non-
suffering of the hooked fish, since the craving
of appetite may be so great as to overpower
the acuteness of external pain. We can our-
selves, by the statement of a fact that occurred
to us last summer, destroy completely the above
supposition. We were fishing on an afternoon,
at the weir a little to the south of Sawley
bridge on the Trent, and lost, in consequence
of a flaw in an old gut casting-line, the whole
of it, with the exception of a link or so. We
lost our three flies, and all by a small chub of
less than a pound weight. From the way the
fish were rising, sluggishly and slowly, we
were certain that the pangs of appetite had
little to do with their mounting towards our
flies, and having gone to another part of the

B 5

river^ and returned in about half an hour to
where we lost the line^ we hooked and killed
with a red hackle — the same sort of fly it had
taken before — the identical chub that had so
short a time previously snapped our gut,
haying the red-hackle tail-fly stuck right
through the under jaw, and the other flies and
line entangled loosely round his body.* If
fly-fishing is to be considered a cruel sport,
there is scarcely one of our field-sports — and,

* Whilst Captain Medwin was fishing in a mill dam, his
friend hoaked a trout which proved too strong for his
tackle, and he lost it; five minutes after the Captain
found himself violently tugged, and succeeded in landing
a trout of three pounds, with the identical hook and tac-
kle of his companion in its mouth. Angler,

The following fact ought to put an end to any doubts
we may have relative to the insensibility of fish : << Some
time ago, two young gentlemen of Dumfries, while fishing
at DaUwinton Loch, having expended their stock of
worms, &c. had recourse to the expedient of picking out
the eyes of the dead perch, and attaching them to their
hooks, a bait which the perch is known to take quite as
readily as any other. One of the perch caught in this
manner struggled so much when taken out of the water,
that the hook had been no sooner loosened from its mouth,
than it came in contact with one of its own eyes, and
actually tore it. The pain, if so it can be called, occa-
sioned by this accident only made the fish struggle the
harder, until at last it fairly slipped through the holder's
fingers, and ag^in escaped to its native element. The
disappointed fisher, still retaining the eye of the aquatic
fugitive, adjusted it on the hook, and again committed
his line to the waters. After a very short interval, on
pulling up the line, he was astonished to find the identical
perch that had eluded his grasp a few minutes before,
and which literally perished by swallowing its own eye !**

as a nation, we take some pride in the noble-
ness and manliness of our field sports — that can
be deemed free from the charge of cruelty.
Hunting, coursing, shooting, horse-racing,
nay, riding, may by the fastidious be tortured
into cruel amusements. We believe, that, as a
people, we are as humane — yes, more humane
— for in a matter of this sort we will not hide
the well-founded opinion we entertain, though
we should be accused of national vanity —
than any great and civilised people upon the
surface of the globe ; whilst, at the same time,
it is a fact universally acknowledged, that in
all out-of-door sports .we indulge ourselves
more generally, and with keener zest, than any
other modern nation; that we understand
them better, and that we introduce into their
practice and pursuit the same ingenuity, the
same spirit of improvement, discovery, and
observation, the same desire to push every
art, though it be one of mere amusement, to
the very verge of perfection, that urges us to
excel in all that relates to commerce and real
civilisation, and which has placed the inhabi-
tants of our little island in the proudest position
ever occupied by the natives of any country.
We will simply ask, whether the French, the
Italians, the Spanish — people peculiarly at-
tached to in-door amusements — who delight

in the atmosphere of the theatre^ the ball-room^
the gambling-house^ the billiard and the coffee
room^ are a more humane people^ a less cruel
race of men, than we Englishmen are — than
we who are the best shots, the best riders, the
best anglers in the world. Let the historical
annals of each nation be consulted; let the
unhappy period, during which each nation was
plunged in domestic or foreign strife,

''When foe met foe in one red burial blent,"

be surveyed, and then let the impartial exami-
ner tell — we will not stickle for the palm of
bravery — which nation showed most of true
heroism — we mean, of humanity — of the good-
ly milk of human forgiveness and kindness.
What is more — what is still more strongly in
favour of our opinion, that an attachment to
field-sports does not in any way pre-suppose a
cruelty of disposition — we will confidently aver,
that our landed gentry, and the people inhabit-
ing the country, and who, of com*se, must be
more addicted to the sports of the field, ai-e
not one jot less humane and tender-hearted
than the inhabitants of large cities. We are
strong partisans, and from motives we trust of
humanity, to most out-of-door recreations.
We believe that they tend to health of
body, and to cheerfulness of mind ; and that.

more than the amusements pursued in large
towns^ they make us study nature^ and its
various features* and productions; and that
whilst we do so, and are not distracted by
streets, marts, shops, palaces — all the work of
man's hands — we are brought more immedi-
ately into contact with the beneficent Creator
of all things, and that we are more frequently
led, with loving and grateful hearts, to exclaim,
"God made the country, but man made the
town !"*

*Such a sentiment as the following flows freely from
the heart of a fly-fisher, after a day spent in the practice
of his art among the romantic rivers and hills of Scotland :
** I envy no quality of the mind or intellect in others ; not
genius, power, wit, or fancy ; but if I could choose what
would be most delightful, and I believe most useful to me,
I should prefer a firm religious belief to every other bless-
ing ; for it makes life a discipline of goodness ; creates
Dew hopes, when all earthly hopes vanish ; and throws
over the decay, the destruction of existence, the most
gorgeous of all lights ; awakens life even in death, and
from corruption and decay calls up beauty and divinity ;
makes an instrument of torture and of shame the ladder
of ascent to paradise ; and far above all combinations of
earthly hopes, calls up the most delightful visions of
palms and amaranths, the gardens of the blest, the secu-
rity of everlasting joys, where the sensualist and the scep-
tic view only gloom, decay, annihilation, and despair !"

Salmoniay page 136.

Stephen Oliver, the younger, prettily remarks, ** What
Pinkerton, with his usual modesty, has said of collecting
old coins, Mt is an innocent pursuit, and such as never
engaged the attention of a bad man,* belongs more justly
to angling — there is not a single angler to be found in the
Newgate Calendar."

Fly-fishing is the only mode of angling in
practice of which exercise is undergone. The
exercise of trolling, perhaps^ ought to be con-
sidered an exception; but in bottom-fishing
the angler remains stationary^ and were it not
for the pure river breeze he inhales^ and the
scenery that gilds his imagination^ it is doubt-
ful whether his amusement would be a health-
ful one. Now the fly-fisher is, we may say,
continually in motion, and there is scarcely a
muscle in the body that is not called into play
and into more robust developement by the
practice of his art. Let any fly-fisher — we
do not speak of one who has already fallen
into " the sere and yellow leaf" — examine the
muscles of his right arm, or of his left if he be
left-handed, at the beginning and at the end
of the fly-fishing season, and he will find them
nearly as much developed in size and solidity,
as if he had been in constant practice with
foil in hand in the salle (Tarmes. Besides
exercise, not too gentle nor yet too rough, the
fly-fisher, always in motion, and not confined
to one particular stream or pool, nor to one
particular bank or rock, enjoys another great
advantage, that of variety. We confess our-
selves inconstant enough, not to wish to be
tied down to any one spot, howsoever beauti-
ful; and if fly-fishing possessed no other ad-

vantage over the other modes of angling, we
should prefer it, because it allows us a wide
range, and does not confine us to plain, hill,
or valley. As we said before, those streams
which most abound with fish that take the
fly, nin through the most beautiful scenery,
and in themselves, on account of the obstruc-
tions they meet with in their course, and the
inequalities of the bed they flow over, present
all those changes of stream, rapid, reach, cas-
cade, and quiet pool, which contribute to form
that, to many, most beautiful object of inani-
mate nature — a perfect river. The fly-fisher
foUowing up his recreation, has a varied and
living panorama ever before him.*

* The philosophical author of Salmonia elegantly says
on this point, with regard to fly-fishing, that, << as to its
poetical relations, it carries us into the most wild and
beautiful scenery of nature ; amongst the mountain lakes,
and the clear and lovely streams that gush from the
higher ranges of elevated hills, or that make their way
through the cavities of calcareous strata. How delightful
in the early spring, after the dull and tedious time of win-
ter, when the frosts disappear, and the sunshine warms
the eartlMind the waters, to wander forth by some clear
stream, to see the leaf bursting from the purple bud, to
scent the odours of the bank perfumed by the violet, and
enamelled, as it were, with the primrose and the daisy ;
to wander upon the fresh turf below the shade of trees,
whose bright blossoms are filled with the music of the bee 5
and on the surface of the waters to view the gaudy flies
sparkling like animated gems in the sunbeams, whilst the
bright and beautiful trout is watching them from below y
to hear the twittering of the water birds, .which, alarmed

at yoor approach, rapidly hide themselves beneath the
flowers and leaves of the water-lily ; and, as the season
advances, to find all tliese objects changed for others of
the same kind, bat better and brighter, till the swallow
and the trout contend, as it were, for the gandy May-fly,
and till, in pursuing your amusement in the calm and
balmy evening, you are serenaded by the songs of the
cheerful thrush and melodious nightingale, performing the
offices of paternal love, in thickets ornamented with the
rose and wood-bine !'* Salmonia, page 10.

An anonymous writer, in that excellent Sunday news-
paper, Thb Atlas — very properly named after the fabled
giant, for the weight of information it carries — remarks
in the clear chanticleer spirit of a lover of our art;
. <* Without the most remote intention of upbraiding any
with a fastidiousness or deficiency of taste ; without wish-
ing to make any body discontented with pre-conceived
and long-settled notions of the external, visible, and
practical delights of this busy and various earth ; or with-
out affecting any undue advantages of choice on our part,
we do not hesitate to say, that trout-fishing with the fly is
the perfection of sublunary pleasure — to those who are,
in the full sense, ' brothers of the angle.'

*Let the huntsman praise his honnds,
Let the farmer praise his grounds,
And the squire his sweet-scented lawn ;*

but a mountain stream, running through an inclined val-
ley, shaded by expanding trees, with a cool wind breathing
up against the current, and clouds not rainy but dark
sailing over-head, is a more attractive sight to the lover of
angling, than the best pack in all the country side, the
rich golden-eared harvest, and the shorn lap of velvet
before the manor-house, with all its promise of comfort
and hints of ease.

'' Select one of those days in June — in our modem turn-
coat June, that (abandoning the path of its ancestors,
which was one bright blaze of sunshine throughout) is now
a capricious and lover-like month, sometimes smiling and
sometimes frowning, and anon weeping, and always co-
quetting — select one of those days in June which your
in-door people would call ^ dubious ',* let there be a smart

breeze blowing over tbe fern, and a gathering of clouds as
dreary as may be, short of actual showers ; sally forth on
such a day with your rod, and your belted basket, and
your book of ' glittering glories ;' take to the gorge of the
mountains, where the water, after having broken from its
alpine birth-place, flows gently, but with vigoar, through
the depths of the valley — there take your stand under the
shadow of an ancestral tree, and mark where the froth
surges on the surface, and where the current is.Qiost im-
petuous — throw in boldly near the &pot ; your eye must
be rapid and vigilant, your hand skilful and fastidious of
its motions, your foot firm, and every nerve on the alert.
Do not be dispirited by delay; patience is the angler's
'Virtue ; do not suppose yourself frustrated by a false rise,
or by a failure in your first fly ; persevere until you are
convinced, that the sun from behind has cast your shadow
on the stream, and so discovered you to the watchful prey,
or that you have made an unlucky attempt, and betrayed
yourself to some of the sagacious patriarchs of the stream,
in either of which cases the sooner you take up another
position the better; but if not, persevere, keep out of
sight, be cautious and eagle-eyed — and you must succeed.
It would be idle to fill up the accessories of the picture.
Those who are true anglers need not to be recalled to the
living delights that surround them in such a scene — the
bills crested with foliage, the vanishing tints that float
across the picturesque valley, the hum and buzz of the rip-
pling water as it frets in the eddies, and sweeps against thQ
loosely-rooted herbage under the shadow of the bank, and
the sense of vitality with which the whole is inspired.
These are to the angler a part of his own world ; not the
dreams of a sickly fancy, but the realities of revealed
nature."

CHAPTER II.

COMMENDATION OF THE ART OF FLY-FISHIN^

CONTINUED.

The moment any one of the slightest taste
examines the tackle or ^^ harness" which the
fly-fisher uses^ he must acknowledge that it is
clean/ neat^ delicate^ and elegant. The essen-
tial property that marks all his gear is, light-
ness. His rod must be nearly as light and as
limber as an enchanter's wand; beautifully^
lightly, gracefully, pliantly, tapering from the
but to the top; made of the lightest, the
most pliant, the toughest, and the strongest
wood ; and joined and put together with ma-

*^'In addition to the foregoing advantages, that of
CLEANLINESS must not be omitted. How greatly prefer-
able is the simple formation of an artificial fly of feathers
and far, to the unpleasantness attendant upon baiting a
hook with worm, maggot, or paste ! The one will last
during the diversion of a whole day, and with care much
longer, whilst the other requires atiyusting or renewing
after every trifling nibble ; to say nothing of the cruelty
which attaches to the iutroduction of a hook into the
worm whilst living, or the extraction of a gorged hook
from the entrails of a ravenous fish." Bainbridge.

thematical precision. His reel-line must pos-
sess the same qualities — be light, strong,
tapering; and his casting-line, or that to which
the flies are attached, and which is cast upon
the water, must be of the finest gut, scarcely
thicker than the threads the field-spider spins
from plant to plant. His hooks, and the
materials attached to them, in order to imitate
those delicate water-flies fish prey upon, "must,
in many instances, present an object, hardly
more bulky than the little "worm pricked from
the lazy finger of a maid." It is this delicacy
of tackle that is the chief source of the
charming excitement felt by the fly-fisher.
Nothing depends upon brute force; every
thing is dependant on art, and on art, the exe-
cution of which requires the most consummate
delicacy. Throw your flies rudely, and, crack!
they and your casting-line are gone, or else
you make a splash upon the water, that will
scare away the greediest fish in it ! Hook your
fish too roughly, and he will sail away with
your line, or fracture your rod; and, after you
have hooked him, play him with too i-ude a
hand, and you will either tear the hook from
out his flesh, or, with a lunge, he wiU scud
away with a portion of your " harness !" You
know all this — you know the danger of any
violence on your part — you know that victory

is only to be obtained by gentleness; and when
the battle is over, you have the pleasure of be-
holding your prostrate foe, beaten in his own
element, forced from it, and with weapons so
weak, that, if strength could compete with
art, you would not have been able to hold him
in check for a moment. You feel that you
could not have accomplished such a feat with-
out ekercising great command over your own
faculties, without exercising patience, inge-
nuity, cunning of hand and of mind; that you
have been putting in practice the good old
advice, stiaviter in modo ; and that you have
just proved, that, in almost all contentions for
mastery, " an ounce of oil goes farther than a
pound of vinegar." Moreover, this light
tackle of yours is portable within a very small
compass ; it is easily put together; and though
your fingers may be as delicate, and as white,
and as soft, as the exquisite's, who, with hands
well steeped in fragrant and softening cos-
metics, sleeps in kid gloves, you need not be
afraid of tarnishing their hue, or diminishing
their velvet softness. You have no worms nor
any other disagreeable or dirty bait to finger ;
the materials you have to manipulate are as
clean and as delicate as those that enter into
the composition of the entomologist's cabinet.
Every one who goes in search of fish, either

for gain or for pleasure^ employs art, in some
degree; "but," as Sir H. Davy truly says,
*nhat kind of it [search] requiring most art,
may be said to characterise man in his highest
or intellectual state : and the fisher for trout
or grayling with 'the fly, employs not only
machinery to assist his physical powers, but
applies sagacity to conquer difficulties; and
the pleasure derived from ingenious resources
and devices, as well as from active pursuit,
belongs to this amusement. Then, as to its
philosophical tendency, it is a pursuit of moral
discipline, requiring patience, forbearance, and
command of temper. As connected with
natural science, it may be vaunted as de-
manding a knowledge of the habits of a
considerable tribe of created beings — fishes,
and the animals that they prey upon, and
an acquaintance with the signs and tokens
of the weather and its changes, the nature of
waters and of the atmosphere."

Fly-fishing is so graceful and elegant an art,
requiring in the practice so much minute at-
tention and delicate manipulation, so much
quickness of eye and sensitiveness of touch, so
much ready apprehension, and which can-ies
us in its pursuit into so many scenes that cast
a glow over the fancy and the imagination,
that we are not surprised to see it chosen, as

an out-of-door recreation^ by some of the most
intellectual ladies in the land. An old English
lady, ^' Dame Juliana Bemers^ prioress of the
nunnery of Sopwell, near St. Alban's, a lady
of a noble family^ and celebrated for her learn-
ing and accomplishments by Leland, Bale^
Pits, Bishop Tanner, and others," was the
first who wrote upon the art of fishing with a
rod ; and we think it extremely unlikely, that
a female at the head of a religious establish-
ment, in which religion and chastity walked,
like angel twins, side by side, would have
written in laud of an art, if there were any
thing in it at all derogatory from the high
religious and virtuous tone that has ever
cha3*acterised Englishwomen. It contains no-
thing of the sort; and if, in our in-door
amusements, our thoughts, words, and actions
are refined by the presiding companionship
of females, we ought to do all that lies in our
power to attract them to accompany us, and
to participate in those field enjoyments which
seem most adapted to the tasteful texture of
their minds, and to the delicate structure of
their persons.

Fly-fishing has still another recommenda-
tion. It may be considered of pure British
growth and practice. Out of England, Scot-
land, Ireland, and Wales, it will be in vain

for you to look for a fly-fisher. We have
roamed through most of the countries of
Europe, and though here and there we did
meet with a foreign fly-fisher or two, they
were so "few and far between," nearly all of
them having acquired a smattering of the art
in this country; and their tackle was so rude,
and their mode of using it so un-English-like,
that we may safely say that the art is peculiar to

<<The land of the brave and free."

Long may it continue so ! And if in this our
modest treatise upon it, we add to its further
extension, and draw one disciple more over to
the "gentle craft," we shall not, so lowly is
our ambition, repine that our labours have
been thrown away.

As a conclusion to this chapter, we will
subjoin a few extracts from difierent authors
in praise of fly-fishing: — ** Fly-fishing, or
fishing at the top of the water, is the most
genteel, ingenious, pleasant, and profitable of
the innocent recreations of angling; to the
perfect accomplishment of which is required,
not only great attention and frequent practice,
but also diligent observation and considerable
judgment. It is the cleanest and neatest that
can possibly be imagined, being quite free
from the trouble of baiting your hook or foul-

ing your fingers. The exercise it requires you
to take is moderate and gentle^ not being
confined long to any part of the river, but
moving from stream to stream. The fish that
are caught in this manner are of the best and
most delicate sorts ; and when the water is in
order, and plenty of flies, there are a great
number of fishes to be taken. The prepara-
tion of the materials for the artificial fly, and
the skill and contrivance in making them, and,
comparing them with the natural, is a very
pleasing amusement. The manner of the
fishes taking them, which is by rising to the
surface of the water, and sometimes out of it,
gives the angler a very agreeable surprise, and
the length and slightness of line greatly adds
to the pleasure of tiring and killing them after
they are hooked." Angler^s Museum.

Mr. Taylor, who wrote in 1800, and whose
book is tolerably esteemed by anglers, writes
very much in the same words in praise of fly-
fishing:— "I shall here remark, that this in-
genious and delightful part of angling is, in
every respect, superior to all the rest put toge-
ther; it is the nicest, cleanest, and most
enlivening that can be ; giving no trouble in
baiting the hook, which occasions dirty fingers,
and thereby renders the sport rather unplea-
sant to persons of nice ideas." The rest of

Mr. Taylor's further remarks are so manifestly
copied, or rather garbled from the extract we
have already given from the Angler^s Mmeum,
that we shall dispense with quoting them,

Mr. Jesse, in " His Rambles/' who under-
stands trolling for pike well, but who i^ not
certainly a skilful fly-fisher, says, ^^I am
not about to make any comparison between
the pleasure of trolling and that of fly-fish-
ing. They may both be enjoyed in their
several ways^ and trolling may be had when
fly-fishing cannot. I always consider the
mere art of fishing, as a secondary considera-
tion. I connect with it the enjoyment of the
country, the song of birds, the beauty of the
day, the refreshment of mind, and the calm-
ness of thought which these bring with them.
^ If,' as an old writer remarks, ^ an angler
weary, his sport refreshes him ; if melancholy,
it cheers him ; if in pain, it eases him.' This
is the prosperity of the fisher. Patience and
hope are the two chiefest pillars that support
him. Cowper appears to have had this feel-
ing, when he remarked,

* O ! friendly to tbe best panniits 6f man,
Friendly to thoaght, to virtue, and to peace,
Domestic life in rural pleasure past,
Few know the value, and few taste the peace.'

" Perhaps there is no pleasure to be enjoyed
at a more easy rate than that of anglings one
more conducive to healthy or which composes
the mind to that quiet and serenity which can
only be appreciated by those who have experi-
enced the happiness they bring with them.
An old angler has justly remarked^ that he
who lives Sibi et Deoy leads the most happy
life; and when we reflect that most of our
earthly hopes are attended with anxiety — that
ambition^ and riches^ and power^ generally
have some cares or evils to counterbalance
them, the contented angler may pursue his
course, enjoying his beloved recreation, with a
mind unruffled, like the stream he wanders
along."

The following and the last extract in praise
of fly-fishing is from the Angler's Souvenir,
a book written with much spirit^ hut, per-
haps, in a style rather too barbed, to please
generally the unoffensive race of gentle crafts-
men : — *^ Fly-fishing is most assuredly that
branch of angling which is most exciting, and
which requires the greatest skill, with the
greatest personal exertion, to insure success.
Fly-fishing, in a preserved water, where ft gen-
tleman, perchance in ball-room dress, alights
from his carriage to take an hour or two's easy
amusement, is no more like fly-fishing in a

mountain stream^ where the angler wanders
free to seek his fish where he will^ and take
them where he can, than slaughtering phea-
sants, in a manner, fed at the barn-door, and
almost as tame as the poultry which are regu-
larly bred in the yard, can be compared to
the active exertion of grouse-shooting. The
angler who lives in the neighbourhood of, or
visits even the best trout streams, has not
unfrequently to walk miles, if he wishes to
bring home a well-filled creel, before he finds
it worth his while to make a cast. When he
has reached a place where trout are plentiful,
und disposed to rise, his labours then only
commence. He now and then hooks a large
trout, which he has to keep in play for some
time before he can draw him to land. The
fish has run all the line out, and with strong
eifort is making up or down the stream ; and
the angler being no longer able to follow him
on the shore — for a tree, a rock, or a row of
alders prevent him ; — and knowing that his
tackle, which, towards the hooks, is of the
finest gut, will not hold the trout, and rather
than lose the speckled beauty, three pounds
weight at the least, into the water he goes, up
to his knees, and possibly a yard above, the
first step. And thus he continues leading a
sort of amphibious life, now on land, now in

the water^ for nearly half a day^ till he has
killed his creel full^ about the size of a fish-
woman's pannier^ with some three or four
dozen besides^ strung on his garters^ and
suspended over his rod. In this guise^ light-
hearted — for he has reason to be proud of his
success — though heavily laden^ he takes his
way homeward; and there does he, for the
first time, note how rapidly the hours have
fled. He came out about two in the after-
noon, just thinking to try if the trout would
rise, as there had been a shower in the
morning, and the water was a little coloured ;
and he now perceives, that the sun, which is
shedding a flood of glory through the rosy
clouds that for half an hour before partly
obscured his rays, will in ten minutes sink
behind the western hill, although it be the
twenty-first of June. Involuntarily he stands
for a while to gaze upon the scene. Every
thing around him, in the solitude of the hills
-^for there is no human dwelling within five
miles — appears quiet and composed, but not
sad. The face of nature appears with a cha-
stened loveliness, induced by the departing
day; the winds are sleeping, and so are the
birds — lark and linnet, blackbird and thrush ;
the leaves of the aspen are seen to move, but
not heard to rustle: the bubbling of the

stream^ as it hunies on over rocks and peb-
bles^ is only heard. The angler's mind ia
filled with unutterable thoughts — with wishes
pure^ and aspirations high. From his heart
he pours^ as he turns towards home^

' Thanks to the glorious God of heaven,
Which sent this summer day.*

The exercise which the ungler takes when
fly-fishing> is no less conducive to the health
of bis body^ than* the influence of pleasing
objects contributes to a contented mind. He
is up in the summer morning with the first
note of the lark ; and ere he return he has
walked twenty miles

' By bum and flowery brae,
Meadow green and mountain 'grey ;'

and has eaten nothing since he dispatched a
hasty breakfast of bread and milk about four
in the morning ; nor drunk, except a glass of
cogniac or glenlivat^ qualified with a dash
of pure spring water^ from the stone trough of
a way-side well, on his way home. When he
goes to the water-side^ as it is more than
likely that he will have to wade, he puts on a
pair of lamb's- wool socks, and an extra pair in
his pocket. Should his feet be wet when he
leaves off fishing, he exchanges his wet socks

for a pair of dry ones^ and walks home in a
state of exceeding gi'eat comfort; the glass
of ^ cold without/ which he took at the well,
just after changing his socks, having sent the
blood tingling to his toe-ends."

We think we have now sufficiently proved,
and yet, if we were so minded, we could bring
further testimony to our aid, the excellency,
the elegance, the high and exciting amuse-
ment, the harmlessness, and the humanity of
fly-fishing. But, as names are better than
mere words, and facts more persuasive than
the most eloquently-urged argumentation,
we will mention the names of a few distin-
guished persons who patronised and practised
fly-fishing. Geo. IV., the most highly-
cultivated minded monarch of the Brunswick
line that ever swayed the sceptre of these
realms, was a fly-fisher. His royal brother,
the duke of Sussex, is a fly-fisher. Nelson,
the hero of a hundred fights — the Napoleon
of the ocean — used to fly-fish in the Wandle,
near his country-seat at Merton, Surrey, and
so much was he attached to the amusement,
that after the loss of his right arm he continued
to practise with his left. Sir Humphrey Davy,
the greatest chemist of modern times, and the
humane inventor of the safety-lamp, which has
saved the lives of thousands of the most useful

of mankind^ was intus et in cute a fly-fisher.
'The first voluminous writer on the art was
Charles Cotton, Esq., of Beresford, near
Ashborne, a gentleman by birth, and far less
known to the generality of readers, for his
poetical and literary attainments, than he
deserves. He was a true country gentleman,
and, if not a profound scholar, he was a very
general and elegant one. "Dr. Paley," ac-
cording to Sir H. Davy, "was ardently at-
tached to the amusement of fly-fishing ; so
much so, that when the bishop of Dui'ham
inquired of him, when one of his most impor-
tant works would be finished, he said, with
great simplicity and good-humour, ^ My Lord,
I shall work steadily at it when the fly-fishing
reason is over,' as if this were the business
of his life." Robert Burns, Mr. Hogg
(the Ettrick Shepherd), Professor Wilson (the
Great Christopher North), all great poets,
were good fly-fishers, and ardently attached to
the sport. Thomson, the immortal author of
the Seasons, and of that still (in our opinion)
superior poem. The Castle of Indolence,
and Wordsworth, the most philosophical poet
of any age or climbs, were fly-fishers. Emerson,
the mathematician. Dr. Wollaston and Dr.
Birch, were also fly-fishers. So are Professor
Rennie of King's College, and Mr. Jesse,

author of Gleanings in Natural History; and
both these learned gentlemen have written
treatises on the art. We could mention seve-
ral more distinguished living individuals who
are lovers of the art; but we think it will
fully answer our purpose^ to refer the reader to
our list of patrons and subscribers.* In that
list will be seen the names of the first nobility
of our country — first in rank, in ancientnesa
of race, in vast territorial possessions, in man<^
ly virtue, and in high standard of intellect.
That list comprises — and we feel justly proud,
and profoundly grateful in recording it — the
names of the fii*st warriors, the first statesmen^
the first political and literary characters of our
time — of men, who, with risk of life, and loss
of blood and limb, have defended, -and upheld^
and augmented, the glory and interests of our
beloved country in the field, and in presence of

* From that list we cannot refrain from ehoosio; the
name of Sir Francis Chantrey. That name carries with it
the highest distinction — that of genias — and that name
is already entwined with the most interesting portion of
the history of our country — with that part of it which
treats, and shall have to treat, of the state and progress
of the fine arts. The greatest and the most classically-
chaste of living sculptors, is an ardent and excellent fly-
fisher. Sir Walter Scott has said of this immortal artist,
<< We have ourselves seen the first sculptor in Europe,
when he had taken two salmon on the same morning, and
can well believe, that his sense of self-importance exceeded
twenty-fold that which he felt on the production of any
of the master-pieces which have immortalized him."

the most redoubtable en^my we had ever to
contend against — of men who have added to
that glory and those interests in the cabinet^
in the senate^ and in the pulpit — who have
adorned them by their literary productions —
by men, who, in their private capacity of
English gentlemen, in all their social duties
and relations, give proofs that they would
sanction no pursuit, the exercise of which
would tend in the remotest degree to sully
that triple emblem of our nationality and union
— which bears enwreathed on it the rose, the
thistle, and the shamrock — and which has
braved, and which shall sHll brave for thou-
sands of years the " battle and the breeze !"

CHAPTER III.

ON THE CHOICE, MAKE, MATERIALS, AND

QUALITIES OF A FLY-ROD. !

In this chapter we shall first state our own
opinion as to the best sort of rods^ and we shall
then give the opinions and advice of the best
judges and writers on the same subject. The
importance to be attached to the qualities of a
rod is very great. It is a matter of perfect
impossibility to throw a fly with precision^ or a
line^ so as that it may fall lightly on the water
— two operations of absolute necessity — with
a rod of improper construction^ make^ and ma^
terial, no matter how experienced and skilful
the hand that wields it. The opinions on the
subject are various and conflicting; but we
can safely and with confidence advise the fly-
fisher to adhere to our judgment^ as it has been
formed by careful comparison (all judgment of
any weight should have its source in extensive
and cautious comparison^ otherwise it will be
worthless and one-sided) of the rods of many

Tnanufactorers/and of many made by fishermen
themselves. It is also impossible to strike at
and hook a fish with certainty of success^ or to
play him confidently and without harm to your
tackle^ if your rod is of imperfect formation.

Tlie Fly 'fisher* 8 Rod: — Let the but, or
joint next the hand, be of ash, of the finest,
smoothest, and longest grain; of that sort of
ash of which the best and lightest cabriolet
i»hafts are made; let the piece for your but be
sawn out of the trunk of a straight and full-
grown tree, which has been hewn down shortly
before the winter solstice, when all trees are
sapless ; and let it be from a piece that has
been seasoned in a dry place for years. The
material cannot be too well seasoned, and
should not be sawn too near the centre of
the tree, but rather at a distance from the vein
through which the pith runs.* Ash makes a
hard, tough, and regularly pliant but, and
there is only one objection to it, namely, that

* ** Before wood of any description is cut into lengths, it
should be perfectly seasoned ; and whatever number of
pieces the rod is to be composed of, between the but and
the top-piece, they must all be cut from the same log, and
not, as is too frequently done, the second part from one
piece of wood, the third from another, and so on, which,
not having undergone the same degrees of seasoning, will
never play regularly in the hand.'* Bainbridge,

This is excellent advice.

it is too weighty. To the fly-fiaher of muscular
wrist and arm, we recommend it as the least
objectionable of all materials. The buts of
the greater part of modem fly*rods are made
of willow^ and^ perhaps, for the generality of
fly-fishers, the material of that tree is the most
appropriate. It is a lighter wood than that
of the ash, and is, within a shade or two,
equally springy and pliable; and though we
give the preference to ash, on account of early
habit, and on account of possessing, chiefly in
consequence of long practice in wielding the
rod, beyond the average muscularity of arm,
still we recommend to most anglers, and to all
beginners, the but made of willow. The two
middle joints of the rod should invariably —
we heed not the assertions of many authorities
against us — be made of hickory, and not of
lance-wood, which is more generally recom-*
mended by writers, and which is, as any one
may perceive by comparing them, heavier^
less firm, and yet less elastic than hickory.
The top joint, two of which should belong, to
guard against casualties, to every rod, should
be made of bamboo-cane, and of nothing else^
since no other material, as yet tried, has been
found in any degree equal to it. We have been
speaking of a four-jointed rod. Should your
rod be of five joints, or even of the unusual^

and^ in most instances^ unnecessary length of
she jbints^ let all the middle joints, that is, all
those between the but and the top, be also of
hickory. Most anglers recommend that the
top joint should terminate with a piece of
whale*bone of about six inches in length or
rather less, but if your top joint be made of
fine-grained bamboo, it can be reduced at the
extreme end to sufficient thinness, to do away
with the necessity of using whale-bone, and
will prevent the defect, and a very serious one
it is, of having your rod top-heavy. The but-
end of your rod should be bored, for the pur-
pose of carrying an extra top. The lower joints
of the rod — we mean that part of the joint
that enters the ferrule — should be brass
shouldered, in order that the wood may be
prevented from swelling when exposed to
moisture, and from straining the ferrules and
other parts of the rod, which it would do, du-
ring the process of unjointing your rod, if it
were in a swoln state. Nothing can be more
Unwise than the advice of those persons who
direct the joints of the rod to be dipped in
water, that they may not separate in casting.
All modern rods have two flattened loops of
brass wire, placed in a direct line near and
opposite to each other, at each end of every
joint, which not only serve to keep the joints

firmly united^ by whipping a thread of silk
round them^ but which are also used as a guide
to put your rod together straight, that is, with
all the loops through which the line passes ia
a direct line one with the other. Those who
advise that your loops or rings should be large,
give the very worst counsel, since large rings
deprive the rod of three essential properties,
lightness, elasticity, and gracefulness. On the
contrary, your rings cannot possibly be too
light, provided, which is by no means a great
difficulty, they be well and firmly soldered.
They should be of moderate size, rather too
small than too large, and should, in their circle,
gradually diminish from the but to the top.
The size of the rings on the but should be
No. 5 ; those on the second joint. No. 6 ; on
the third joint. No. 7 ; and on the top joints,
Nos. 8 and 9. They should be tied on the rod
with the greatest possible neatness, and the
finest twisted silk should be used in the pro-
cess. The loops to which the rings are fas-
tened should be cut with a scissors from the
thin round plates of copper to which the dials
of watches adhere, and which are composed of
the finest-grained and toughest copper. They
can be procured in abundance, and almost for
asking, at the watch-maker's, since they are of
no use to him after the dial has been so much
injured as to require renovating.

One of the most constant and greatest de-
fects in rods is, that they are made to taper
too abruptly from a little above the spot the
reel is placed on, down as far as the first joint.
This defect is particularly remarkable in rods
of Irish manufacture, which, though much
vaunted by prejudiced anglers, are inferior to
English rods ; and their inferiority is mainly
to be attributed to the great weight of their
ferrules, weighing twice or three times more
than ours, and to the mode of fastening the
joints by means of screws, all which contributes
to render their rods too heavy, and to neutra-
lise the good properties which they otherwise
possess. Your rod should taper in just pro-
portion from but to top, if not it will not bend
with exact uniformity, and there will be an
unequal stress on the different portions of it.
When a rod tapers with mathematical exact-
ness, its pliability will be in uniform proportion
with the thickness and strength of its parts,
9,nd each part will have to bear a weight exactly
in proportion with its power of bearing it. In
a rod of fair proportions the second and third
joints dp most of the work, on them is gi'eatest
stress, and on them chiefly depends your suc-
cess in throwing with precision your line, stri-
king your fish, hooking and playing him. If
they be defective in proportion, or composed of

improper material^ no good qualities in the
other parts of your rod can compensate for the
imperfection. It is scarcely necessai*y to add^
that there must he a moveahle spike to your
rod^ to screw into the ferrule at the base of the
but-end. Such spike or blade serves to &sten
your rod in the ground whilst you land a fish^
free your hooks from weeds, your lines from
being entangled, or whilst you change your
casting-line or flies. In tying up your joints
after fishing, or in laying them by during the
winter, be careful to place them straight and
parallel with each other, lest they should con-
tract a bendy or get strained, so as to render
it a labour of difficulty to bring them back to
their original formation.* A fly-rod is suffi-
ciently long at from twelve to thirteen feet:
thirteen feet and a half should be the utmost
length.t

* ''To preserve rods after use) let them be weU mbb^
with salad oU or tallow, and kept in a moderately dry
place until the return of the angling season, when, after
being carefully wiped, they will be found in excellent
order. If the bottom piece be bored for the purpose of
receiving a spare top, the inside should be oiled, by means
of a piece of rag, fastened to the end of a stick."

Bainbridffe.

t *^ The common length of a trout rod is from twelve to
fourteen feet. Some persons prefer them even longer; but
for the generality of streams the latter is qaite sufficient,
and for small rivers and brooks the former is much the
most convenient and useful size.*' BainbridUfe,

We shall now proceed to give the instruc-
tions of others on this subject ; and we begin
with extracts from the most ancient professors^
certainly rather with a view to satisfy curiosity
than to communicate useful information.

Dame Juliana Berners^ writing about the
year 1486^ gives the following curious recipe
for rod-making:-^" Ye shall kytte betweene
Myghelmas and Candylmas^ a fSeiyr staiFe, of a
fadom and a halfe longe^ and arme-grete^ of
hasyll^ wyllowe or aspe; and be the hym in an
bote ouyn^ and set hym euyn; thenne^lete
hym cole and drye a moneth. Take thenne
and frette (tie it about) hym faste with a coeke-
shote corde; and bynde hym to a fourme^ or
an euyn square grete tree. Take^ thenne, a
plummer's wire, that is euyn and streyghte, and
sharpe at the one ende; and hete the sharpe
ende in a charcole fyre tyll it be whyte, and
brenne the staffe therwyth thorugh, euer
streyghte in the pythe at bothe endes, tyll they
mete ; and after that brenne hym in the nether
ende wyth a byrde-broche (bird-spit) and wyth
other broches, eche gretter than other, and
euer the grettest the laste ; so that ye make
your hole, aye, tapre were. Thenne lete hym
lye styll, and kele two dayes; unfrette (unbind)
hym thenne, and lete hym drye in an hous roof,
in the smoke, tyll he be thrugh drye. In the

^ I

same season^ take a fayr yerde of grene hasyll,
and bethe him euen and streyghte^ and lete it
drye wyth the staffe; and whan they ben drye,
make the yerde mete unto the hole in the
stafie^ unto halfe the length of the staffe; and
to' perfourme that other halfe of the croppe^
take a fayr shote of blacke thomn^ crabbe tree,
medeler, or of jenypre, kytte in the same season^
and well bethyd and streyghte^ and frette
theym togyder fetely, soo that the croppe maye
justly entre all into the sayd hole; and thenn^
shaue your staffe^ and make hym tapre were ;
thenne vyrell the staffe at bothe endes.wyth
long hopis of yren, or laton, in the clennest
wise, wyth a pyke at the nether ende, fastynd
wyth a rennynge vyce, to take in and out your
croppe; thenne set your croppe an handful!
wythin the ouer ende of your staffe, in suche
wise that it be as bigge there as in ony other
place about ; thenne arme your croppe at the
ouer ende, downe to the frette, wyth a lyne of
VJ heeres, and dubbe the lyne, and frette it
faste in the toppe wyth a bowe to fasten on
your lyne ; and thus shall ye make you a rodde
soo prevy, that ye may walke therwyth; and
there shall noo man wyte where abowte ye goo."
The Dame Juliana must have been a lady
of powerful ^Hhews and sinews," not very much
macerated by fasting and prayer, prioress of a

nunnery though she was^ since she was able
to handle a rod^ at leasts according to her own
calculation^ fourteen feet long^ and the but of
which was an *^ arme-grete," or somewhat
about as thick as one's arm. The "staffe,
or but^ being ^^a fadom and a halfe longe^
makes nine feet > the middle joint being ^' a
fayr yerde (yard) of grene hasyll/' when added
to nine makes twelve feet; and the "toppe,"
consisting of "a fayr shote (shoot) of blacke
thomn," must be computed at the lowest at
two feet; thus making the fair angler's rod
full fourteen feet long — a length, and, conse-
quently, a weight (and, remark, the joints are
to be bound with long ^^hopis of yren" —
hoops of iron) far too ponderous for the mus-
cles of us degenerate modern males.
• Cotton gives no directions for making a rod,
but one of his commentators. Sir John Haw-
kins, thus supplies the deficiency : — " But for
the neatest fly-rod you can make, get a yellow
whole deal board that is free from knots; cut
off about seven feet of the best end, and saw it
into some square breadths ; let a joiner plane
off the angles and make it perfectly round, a
little tapering, and this will serve for the
stock ; then piece it to a fine straight hazel,
of about six feet long; and then a delicate
piece of fine-grained yew, planed round like

an arrow, and tapering, with whalebone, d»
before, of about two feet in length. There
is no determining precisely the length of a
fly-rod; but one of fourteen feet is as long aa-
can be well managed with one hand."

The same commentator, improving on the
above instruction, says with much truth,
"Here follows a description of such a neat,
portable, and useful fly-rod, as no angler that
has once tried it will ever be without. Let
the joints be four in number, and made of hic-
kory, or some such very tough wood, and two
feet four inches in length, the largest joint
not exceeding half an inch in thickness.
The top must be bamboo shaved. And for
the stock, let it be of ash, fiill in the grasp,
of an equal length with the other joints ; and
with a strong ferrule at the smaller end, made
to receive the large joint, which must be well
shouldered and fitted to it with the utmost
exactness." A rod made of the above pro-
portions will be about thirteen feet and a
half long, full long enough for all the trout
and grayling streams of the midland counties.

Mr. Taylor, who certainly was a good angler,
but rather of the old school, says, "Your
rod for trout-fishing should be about fourteen
feet in length; the bottom part made of well*
seasoned ash or hazel, large enough towards

the but-end for the reel to fasten on properly;
the middle part seasoned yew or hickory; the
top of the same^ well spliced^ with about half
a foot of good round whalebone to fit nicely,
properly tapered to the end, and ringed
neatly; and when put together it must he very
regularly taper from bottom to top, with a
good spring, and pliable almost to the hand,*
for fly-fishing; but you should have another
top, much sfiffer, to put on for minnow and
worm-fishing. The but-end of your rod
should be bored so as to be adapted to hold
either top, according as you change them,
with a screw or cap at the end to keep it from
dropping out. For fly-fishing only, your rod
should be but of two parts, without ferrules,
and the lower part longer than the upper part,
with the small end of the former and the large
end of the latter, cut nicely to fit, as for spli-
cing, but pretty long ; it may be tied together
by the water-side, with a proper-sized twisted
and waxed hempen thread, such as shoe-ma-
kers use ; and when you have left off fishing,
you should untie the rod, and wrap the string
round both parts together, for the more con-

* Reader, in choosing a rod never follow this advice, for
a rod can have no greater defect than that of being << pli-
able almost to the hand." If it be, you can neither throw
a line, nor hook a fish well, and, above all, yoa can have
no command over him when he is hooked.

veniently carrying it home. This sort of rod
is by far the best, both for throwing out the
line with more ease and exactness^ and for
easing it in playing the fish when hooked;
and it will. have, a better spring, if properly
made, than the other sort of rods."

We agi'ee with Mr. Taylor, with respect to
the superiority, in the points he mentions, of
the rod " of two parts, without ferrules ;" and
the best fly-rod we ever used was a small rod
of this description, given to us in our boyhood
by an Irish clergyman. With it we could
throw a fly into a nut-shell. The chief objec-^
tion to such a rod, and it is almost an insur-
mountable one for persons living in towns and
far from rivers, is, that it is not portable, and
that the putting of it together is troublesome.
Gentlemen who live on the banks of fishing
streams, and who have servants to put their
tackle together for them, would do well to have
this sort of rod. In this opinion we are glad
to see ourselves supported by the authority of
Mr. Rennie, who, in a note to the "Complete
Angler," says, "The great objection to rods in
many pieces is, that they are not sufficiently
pliant ; and no angler, who is as near his sta-
tion as Mr. Cotton was to the Dove, should
think of such a pieced rod as he describes."*

* it

Some prefer them [rods] of two pieces only, which

Mr. Hansard^ author of a valuable little
work on "Salmon and Trout Fishing in
Wales," says, that "the length and strength
of rod must, of course, be proportioned to the
si^e of the fish you may expect, and the width
of the water in which you sport. A stifFer
rod is to be preferred, as enabling the angler
to throw with more exactness : it is also of
great advantage in a strong breeze."

It is unquestionably easier to throw a line
in a "strong breeze," or against the wind,
with a stiff rod ; but that is the only solitary
advantage it possesses. In every other respect
it is objectionable, and we defy any man to
cast his line lightly on the water with a stiff
rod. A stiff rod, and one pliable to the hand,
are equally objectionable, though from different
reasons. Medio tutissimtis ibis.

Colonel Hawker, whom we deem rather too
much conceited to be a profound adept in the

are spliced together about the middle. These certainly
throw a fly in a neater manner than those encumbered
with ferrules can possibly do, as the spring from the hand
is uninterrupted, consequently, more regular ; and they are
admirably adapted for the use of an angler whose resi-
dence is near the scene of his diversion ; but the awlc-
wardness of length renders them troublesome and un-
wieldy companions, when a walk of some miles intervenes
between the river and the angler's dwelling. This de-
scription of rod is in general use in the northern counties
of England, where ferrules are considered very objection-
able.*' Bainhridge.

" gentle craft," offers excellent counsel on the
matter in question. The gallant sportsman
says, that *^ your fly-rod should be about
twelve feet three inches long, and about four^
teen ounces* in weight. It must not be top-
heavy, nor it. must not have too much play in
the lower part, but the play should be just in
proportion to the gradual tapering, by which
there will be very little spring till after about
the third foot of its length. A rod too pliable
below is as bad a £Eiult as being too stiff; and
from being too small there (at the but) is, of
course^ more liable to be top-heavy, which
nine rods out of ten are. The consequence is^
they tire the hand, and do not drop the fly so
neatly. I have seen some Irish rods, which^
if they had not been too pliant, would have
been worth any money."

In the following recommendations respecting
the choice of a rod, taken from the ^^ Fly-fisher's
Entomology," by Mr. Alfred Ronalds, the
reader will perceive, that in some points that
gentleman agrees with us ; but that in others
his opinion is widely different from ours. Mr.

* The generality of rods, of modem manufacture and of
the length the colonel recommends, do not weigh more
than twelve ounces. We have several rods in our possea-
sion thirteen feet and a h^If long, the average weight of
which is under fourteen ounces. However, the weight the
gallant colonel recommends is a very proper one.

Ronalds writes, " Like the bow of the archer,
the rod of the angler should be duly propor-
tioned in dimensions and weight, to the
strength and stature of him who wields it. The
strong or tall man may venture upon a rod
about fourteen or fifteen feet long; but to the
person who is shorter or less robust, one so
short even as twelve or twelve feet and a half,
and light in proportion, is recommended, as
the command will be sok)ner obtained, and with
very much less fatigue to the arm. The best
materials are, ash for the stock, lance-wood
for the middle, and bamboo for the top; the
but should have a hole drilled down it, with a
spare top in it, and a spike is made to screw
into the end, which will be found useful to stick
into the ground, and keep the rod upright,
when landing a good fish. The ferrules of
brass should fit into each other with screws.
A good rod should be such that its pliability
may be f^elt in the hand, yet it should not
deviate or droop by its own weight, if held by
the but in a horizontal position, more than
three or four inches from a straight line. The
rings are usually too small ; not allowing such
slight obstacles on the line, as can never be
totally prevented, to run with sufficient free-
dom through them ; they should all be of the
size of those usually put upon the stock."

^ I

Professor Rennie^ quoting Bainbridge^ says,
that ^^ the best rods are made of ash for the
bQttom-piece^ hickory for the middle, and
lance- wood for the top-joints. If real bamboo
can be procured of good quality, it is prefer-
able to lance-wood. Rose-wood and partridge-
wood, from the Brazils, may also be used for
the top-pieces. The extreme length of the
top-piece is usually composed of a few inches
of whale-bone. The rings for the reel-line
may be made by twisting a piece of soft brass
wire round a tobacco-pipe, and soldering the
ends together. They ought to diminish in
size as they are made to approach the top, and
must form a straight and regular line with each
other when the rod is put up for use."

In an old work, written about the middle of
the last century, entitled the ^^ Sportsman's
Dictionary," the following directions are to be
found : — "If you fish with more than one hair,
or with silk-worm gut, red deal is much the
best, with hickory top, and about four yards
long the whole rod; but for small fly, with
single hair, about three yardis, very slender,
the top of the yellowish hickory, with whale-
bone about nine inches, and very near as long
as the stock ; the stock of white deal, not too
rush-grown; let it be thick at the bottom,
which will prevent it from being top-heavy.

and make it light in the hand. The rod for a
fty must by no means be top-heavy, but very
well moanted, and exactly proportionable^ as
well as slender and gentle at top ; otherwise it
will neither cast well^ strike readily^ nor ply
and bend equally, which will very much en-
danger the line"

We have placed in this chapter every thing
that is necessary, even for the most curious, to
know respecting all that pertains to a fly-rod,
and if the reader take the trouble to study and
compare its contents, he may, to all useful
intents and purposes, consider himself suffi-
ciently learned on the subject.

CHAPTER IV.

ON THE BEST SORTS OF LINES^ REELS^ HOOKS^

&C.

A REEL-LINE of twenty yards in length is
sufliciently long for the river Dove, and for the
other trout and grayling streams of the mid-
land counties. For the lesser streams we
recommend a line not longer than fifteen yards,
A reel-line entirely made of silk is extremely
objectionable, as it readily imbibes the water,
and thereby becomes too heavy for being
thrown lightly; a line entirely made of hair
is equally objectionable, as it will not be pliant
enough, and is too apt to kink. The best —
decidedly the best — lines, are composed partly
of silk, partly of hair. The proportions of
both those materials necessary for the compo-
sition of a good line are as follow :

A line twenty yards long must consist of
three twists; all of those twists must have
each one very fine white silk thread, one fine
white hair, two light-brown hairs, and 6ne dark-

brown, making all together four hairs and one
thread of silk for each twist, or three threads
of silk and twelve hairs, to compose the thick-
ness of the line. All good lines must be com-
posed of three principal twists. The whole of
this calculation refers to the thickest part of
the line — that part next the reel. The bottom
part of a twenty-yard line, or that part to which
the casting-line is attached, must likewise con-
sist of three chief twists, one of which to be
made of one white thread of fine silk, one white
hair, and one dark-brown hair; the other two
twists to contain each one white thread of silk,
and two light-brown hairs. A line thus made
will taper properly, and be sufficiently strong
and pliant in all its parts. Its colour will be a
light-speckled brown, and suitable for the
generality of waters.

A fifteen-yard reel-line, consisting of the
following component parts, will be found best
suited to light rods of about twelve feet long,
and we confidently recommend it, both for
material and colour, as beautifully adapted for
small streams.

Like the former line it must consist of three
principal twists, one of which must be made of
one fine white silk thread, two fine white hairs,
and two fine light-brown hairs ; the second
twist must be composed of one fine white silk

thready and four fine white hairs; and the third
twist must consist of one fine black hair, of
two light-brown hairs, of one white hair, and
of one fine white silk thread. This is the com-
position of the reel-end of the line. The end
next the water must also be composed of three
principal twists; of one white thread of silk,
and one brown hair ; of a second twist made of
one black hair, and one white thread of silk ;
of a third, consisting of one light-brown hair,
and one white silk thread. Sach a line will be
delicately taper, and its colour will be a sort
of pepper-and-salt, with a light-brown sandy
shade in it.* We recommend this line to
ladies and youthful beginners.

Both those lines can be had at the fishing-
tackle shops, and are the very best that can be
used. The two next best are, first, a pale-green
line of three chief twists, each twist to be
composed of four white hairs, and one light-
green silk thread; second, a pale-blue of the
same number of twists, each twist one white
hair, and one thread of light-blue silk. The
line to be less bulky towards the water-end.
There are hundreds of reel-lines made and

* '' As to the colour of yoar line, you must be determined
by that of the river in which you fish ; but I have generally
found, that a line of the colour of pepper-and-salt, which
is made by mixing a black hair among the white ones in
twisting, will suit any water/' Angler i Museum,

culoored differently^ but beyond these four
there is no choice. For our own parts we
invariably use the two first The colour of
our lines is darker when on or in the water.

Ca8ting4ine: — This line is that to which
your flies are attached^ and which is cast upon
the water. It must be composed of carefiilly-
chosen silk-worm gut^ of the roundest and the
finest that can possibly be procured. Every
link must be carefully examined^ to see that
there is no crack or flaw in it. The ends of
each link^ particularly the finer end^ being
generally rotten and worthless^ must be un-
sparingly rejected. The whole line must be
taper^ and it is rendered so by knotting toge-
ther the thicker links of gut at the top nearest
the reel-line^ and diminishing by degrees their
thickness until you end with a link as fine, or
nearly so, as a hair. The links must be
knotted, not tied together or whipped, and
the sort of knot to be used is the slip-knot,
or the old angler's knot.* This knot is, we

. * Though it is extremely easy to make this knot, we
questioa whether we caa by writing teach the mode of
tying it. If the reader once saw the operation performed,
lie could do it himself immediately afterwards. We will
try, however, if we cannot by plain speaking communicate
this very important piece of information to our readers.
Hold one piece of gut firmly, at the distance of an inch and
a half from its end, between the fore-finger and thumb of

believe^ peculiar to Derbyshire and Stafford-
shire^ and, perhaps, we might say, to the
anglers of the Dove and of the neighbouring

yoar left band. Then lake another link of g^t, and hold-
ing it in the same way in yoar right hand, place it hori-
zontally and parallel with the link of gut still held between
the fore-finger and thumb of your left hand. The ends of
the gut pointy of course, in different directions — the link
in your left hand, or rather that first placed in it, pointing
to the right, the other link pointing to the left. So far
the operation resembles that necessary to make the ordi-
nary angler's knot. You now take that end of the gut
which points to the right,, and with the fore-finger and
thumb of your right hand you form it into a circle about
the size of a wedding-ring, the extreme end of the gut
pointing upwards, which you pass twice over and under the
other link of gut, and always taking into the operation
the gut of the circle. You then pull towards your right
hand the end of gut so passed, holding both pieces of gut
still firmly between the fingers of your left hand, and the
first half of the knot is made. You then reverse the whole
gut, placing the knot already formed between the finger
and thumb of your left hand, and the end of gut which
before pointed to the left will now point towards the right.
You take this end, in the very same way as you did before,
and with your right-hand fore-finger and thumb, form it
into a circle, and pass it twice under and over the link of
gut which has been already knotted, and you afterwards
pull the end tightly towards the right, always holding
firmly in your left hand both links of gut. Two small
knots are now formed in a line opposite to each other ; you
then leave go, and pulling the links in difibrent directions,
that is, right and left, the two knots close upon each other»
and form the slide-knot. This knot will open, if the links,
instead of being pulled to, be pushed back, and a sliding
loop is formed, into which you insert the gut of your
dropper knotted singly at the end. Poll the links then
to, right and left, and your dropper is held fast in the
knot. Cut off the ends close to the knot, and your openu
tion is finished.

streams. Its advantages are many and great.
It is easily executed, irrefragably strong, ex-
tremely small, becoming more so the more it
be pulled, and affords by far the easiest and
quickest mode of putting on and taking off
your flies. By adopting this sort of knot you
get rid of the old and clumsy way of looping
on your flies.

If you fish with three flies, and in the streams
of the midland counties we advise you never to
fish with a greater number at a time, your cast-
ing-line must consist of two yards and a half of
gut.* Your tail-fly, or stretcher, which ought
to be your chief killing-fly, must be tied on a
link of the finest gut, finer, if possible, than the

* Colonel Hawker says, '* Use about eight feet of gut,
and the addition of that on the tail-fly will bring the whole
foot-line to about three yards. Put on your bob (dropper)
fly a few inches below the middle ; or, if in a weedy river,
within little more than a yard of the other ; lest, while
playing a fish with the bob, your tail-fly should get caught
in a weed. More gut than is here prescribed will be found
an incumbrance when you want to get a fish up tight ;
insomuch, that, of the two, I would rather have a little
less than more of it.*'

Bowlker, an authority of fair reputation, observes,
that '' An experienced fly-fisher will use three or four flies
at the same time : the leading-fly should be fastened to
the gut bottom by a water-knot, in preference to a loop ;
the first dropper about a yard from the leading-fly ; the
second dropper about eighteen inches above the first; and
the third, if required, about a foot from the second." We
jecommend this spacing (to nse a printer's word) of flies
when four are attached to the casting-line.

D 5

water-end of your casting-line^ to which it must
be attached by means of the slip-knot. The
length of the link on which the tail-fly^ or
stretcher, is tied, ought to be about nine inches
long. The distance on your casting-line be-
tween each of your flies must be twenty inches.
The length of the gut to which your droppers
are tied, need not be more than two inches.
The majority of anglers use and advise gut of
three inches long, but we are sure from expe-
rience that they are in error. If you use four
flies at a time on your casting-line, its length
must be three yards; if you use five, the length
must be three yards and a half. Those lines
must be knotted in the same way, and made as
equally taper, as the line of two yards and a
half, and the tail-fly and droppers must be
attached to them in a similar manner.

It will aid you very much in flinging out
properly your casting-line, if you have one good
length of horse-hair coming between it and the
reel-line. This link of horse-hair must consist
of four long and strong hau*s twisted with the
hand together, and they must be pulled from
the tail of a chesnut or bay stallion, or gelding,
of four or five years old. Never let the hair,
either of fillies or mares, enter into the compo-
sition of youi' tackle.*

* ^' Hair, if plucked from the tail of a yonng horse or

By far the easiest^ and simplest^ and best
mode of dying your gut is, to place your lines,
coiled up, in a saucer three parts full of common
lukewarm writing-ink. One minute's steeping
will be nearly sufficient to die it of the colour
required. The moment you withdraw the gut
from the ink, you must rince it in clear cold
water, and if, holding it between your eye and
the light, you find it of too pale a colour, im-
merse it for half a minute longer in the ink.
The colour produced is the best of all others,
namely, a water-colour.*

mare, is not so good as that which is to be procured firom
a four-or-flve-year-old gelding ; but the best is to be had
from the tail of a well-grown stallion ; and those hairs are
generally most free from blemish which grow from the
middle of the tail." Bainbridge.

* This recipe, of course, is not chemically correct ; but
so few have been the improvements made in hair or gut
staining, that we believe it will be found the safest and
best. The receipt of our common father, Isaak Walton,
Is a good one : — << Take,'' says he, *' a pint of strong ale,
half a pound of soot, and a little quantity of the juice of
walnut-tree leaves, and an equal quantity of alum ; put
these together into a pipkin, and boil them half an hour ;
and having so done, let it cool ; and being cold put your
hair (or gut) into it, and there let it lie ; it will turn your
hair to be a kind of water or glass colour, or greenish ;
and the longer you let it lie, the deeper coloured it will be.*'

When the water after a flood is coloured, you may use
gut died of a light-brown colour. The following is an easy
recipe : — ^To a strong infusion of coffee, add a little pounded
alum ; let the liquor become^ tepid, and steep your gut in
it for a minute or two. The longer you let it lie, the deeper
coloured it will be. A strong infusion of green tea, with a

Hooks: — The hooks we ordinarily use, and
which in consequence we recommend, for fly*
fishing, are those manufactured at Kendal*
and at Redditch.t We find them in every
respect suitable to the purposes of the fly-
fisher. Before we state the proper sizes of

few logwood scrapings, kept lakewarm with the gut in it
for twelve hours, will die the gut an excellent colour.

** The angler should be careful to fit the liuk (colour of)
to the water ; the rest of the line is not so material. A
reddish sorrel hair, when the water is somewhat red on the
decline of a flood ; a light chesnnt, when the water is of a
gray colour ; a lead-colour is preferable when the water is
of an iron hue, which it frequently is in many rivers, when
full without over-flowing ; an amber foot-line is best when
the water is low and clear as crystal.** JohnsorCs Sports-'
man's Cabinet.

A very old writer, author of 'the " Experienced Angler,
or Angling Improved," says, with regard to colour, "I like
sorrel, white, and gray best ; sorrel in muddy and boggy-
rivers, both the other for clear waters. I never could find
such virtue or worth in other colours, to give them so high
praise as some do, yet if any other have worth in it, I must
yield it to the pale watery green, and if you fancy that you
may die It thus : Take a pottle of alum-water, a large
handful of marigolds, boil them until a yellow scum arise ;
then take half a pound of green copperas, and as much
verdigris, beat them into a fine powder, put those with the
gut into the alum-water, set all to cool for twelve hours^
then take out the gut and lay it to dry.*'

'^ For discoloured water it may be necessary to stain the
gut ; but in clear water ocular demonstration will prove
that white is the least perceptible colour." Bainbridge.

* The best Kendal hooks are manufactured by Messrs.
Adlington and Hutchinson, Kendal, Cumberland.

t The best Redditch hooks dre manufactured by Mr.
Richard Wyers, and by Mr. Charles Swan, both of
Redditch, Worcestershire.

those hooks^ we beg the reader to remark, that
the mode of numbering hooks, in order to
distinguish their size, is entirely different in
each of the above-named towns.* At Kendal
the smallest-sized hook is numbered 00
(double nought), and the largest No. 12. At
Redditch, on the contrary, the smallest-sized
hook is numbered 12, and the largest, 00, or
two noughts. Consequently, Kendal hooks
marked 00, 0, 1, 2, 3, and so on, will cor-
tespond to Redditch hooks marked 12, 11, 10,
9, 8, and so on for the other numbers. The
following table will exactly show how they
correspond :

Small sized. Large sized.

Kendal: 00, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
Redditch: 12, 11,10,9, 8, 7, 6, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, 00.

Should you use Kendal hooks, the best size
for the Dove, in the hot months, is No. 1,
(we should recommend No. 0, but, on account
of the shortness of the shank, it will be found
too small) ; and No. 2 in the spring months,
and when the water is at its average fulness :
No. 3 is to be used when there is what is

termed a " flush" of water. All Kendal hooks

■\ ,•

* Fish-hooks are generally numbered from 1 to 12 :
No. 1 being the largest, and No. 12 the smallest in the
series. There are, however, hooks larger than No. 1. and
smaller than No. 12.

for flies should not be straight and round-bent,
but, on the contrary, they should be what is
called " sneok-bent." The same direction
refers to every sort of hook for fly-fishing.
They should be as light in the wire as possible,
to prevent the fly from falling heavily on, and
from sinking in, the water.

The Redditch hooks are longer in the shank
than the Kendal, and, therefore, you may use
No. 1 1 for the hot months, and No. 10 for all
the other months of the year — we mean for
those months in which the river is rather full.

The diversity of opinion respecting the
shape and quality of fly-hooks is so great, that
we feel bound to state the conflicting judg-
ment of some of the best authorities. Sir H.
Davy says, "What a fool I was (a fish had
just broken a hook) ever to use one of these
London or Birmingham made hooks ! — The
thing has happened to me often. I now never
use any hooks for salmon-fishing, except
those which I am sure have been made by
O'Shaughnessy, of Limerick; for even the
hooks made in Dublin, though they seldom
break, yet they now and then bend, and the
English hooks, made of cast-steel, in imitation
of Irish ones, are the worst of all."

Mr. Alfred Ronalds says, " The Kirby hook
is frequently preferred. The Limerick is also

a good hook for large flies^ as at present made
by O'Siiaughnessy^ of Limerick. His is not
too proud in the barb^ and is^ generally, pro-
perly tapered. The Carlisle hook may also
rank amongst the good ones."

Mr. Taylor, who is quite at variance with
us respecting the shape of hooks — he prefer-
ring those which are straight, and we those
that are crooked in the bend — says, "Your
choice of hooks should be those made of the
best-tempered fine steel wire ; generally long-
ish in the shank, and strong, and rather
deepish in the bend; the point fine and
straight, and as true as it can be set, to be
level with the shank, which, for fly-making,
should be tapered off to the end of it, that the
fly may be finished the neater; be careful also
that the hook has a good barb. I have, by
many years' experience, found these kinds of
hooks to be more sure, and better than any
crooked hooks whatever ; they do not make so
large an orifice when you hook a fish, nor are
they so liable to break the hold through, as
the crooked-bent ones are; and in trying
them for several seasons one against another,
I found that I missed, in the rising or biting
at bottom, considerably more fish, and lost
I^ore after being hooked with the crooked
ones, than with those I have here described.

and which, of course, I now always use. The
best of the kind are made at Limerick, in
Ireland."

Mr. P. Fisher, author of ''The Angler's
Souvenir," says, in his usual ofF-hand style,
''By whatever name hooks may be called —
Limerick, Kendal, Carlisle, or Kirby — and
whatever may be the pretended excellence of
this or that particular bend, the great object
is, to obtain them well made, neither so soft as
to draw out almost straight, like a piece of
pin-wire, nor so brittle as to spap on receiving
a slight jerk. Before trying them, they ought-
to be tested; the smaller ones by pulling
them with the fingers, and the larger ones by
a smart pull when suspended over a wooden
peg. The pretended advantages of one kind
of bend over another, for hooking and holding
fish, remain yet to be confirmed by experi-
ence. If the hook be, in other respects, well
made, with a fine point and barb, the angler
need not be particular about the bend."

Professor Rennie remarks, "It is reported,
that the German Prince Rupert, well known
for his experimental skill, in the reign of our
Charles I., communicated to Charles Kirby a
method of tempering hooks, which remained
for that time a secret with Kirby's descen-
dants, and even now, the Kirby hooks are

esteemed. Neither the London, the Birming*
ham, nor the Duf)lin hooks are good^ because
they are manufactured to sell cheap. Kendal
hooks are in considerable reputation as to
temper, and hold well, though they are not
so readily fixed, by the pull, in the mouth of
the fish. *Many anglers,' says CaiToU, 'do
not approve of the Kirby bend, particularly in
large hooks : they prefer the hook that is bent
in a line with the shank, as being the best for
holding a large fish.' A hook ought never to
be chosen whose point stands much outwards,
as it often only scratches the fish without lay*
ing hold. The celebrated Limerick hooks
made by O'Shaughnessy, are by far the best
tempered of any in the market, being capable
of holding a fish of thirty pounds, stand a
very little outwards, which is certainly an
advantage."

Mr. Stoddart says, that " the hook used in
Scotland, and which he prefers, is Kendal
circular bend. It is of much lighter make
than the Limerick, and its shape in the small*
er sizes more suitable for hooking trout."

Colonel Hawker, on the other hand, ob-
serves, *' With regard to hooks, I have always
found the Irish ones far superior to ours.
The best, I believe, are bought in Limerick."

Our readers will perceive, that of the seven

authorities cited, there are five decidedly in
favour of the Limerick hooks; namely. Sir
H. Davy, Mr. Taylor, Professor Rennie, Mr.
^Ronalds, and Colonel Hawker. Notwithstand-
ing the weight of so many great authorities
against us, we still maintain the superiority of
the Kendal hook over the Limerick. It is
equally as well tempered, far lighter, and^ if
sneck-bent, it has two advantages over the
Limerick hook. We have invariably remarked,
that the old anglers, and particularly the most
noted poachers, in the neighbourhood of Ash-
borne, will never buy any but crooked-bent
hooks, or those that are, as they say, " skewed"
in the bend. This observation is made, in order
that it may be placed in juxta-position with
the very confident assertion of Mr. Taylor, who
says, that straight-bent hooks ore the best.

If the reader choose to make his own hooks;
he will follow the following method. It is
extracted from Professor Rennie's "Alphabet
of Scientific Angling," in which the learned
professor has done little more than paraphrase,
without acknowledgment, the directions of
Sir H. Davy on this subject : — " The soft steel
for making hooks is made by cementing with
charcoal good soft malleable iron, such as is
procured from the nails of old horse-shoes, till
it is converted into steel. It is then formed

into bars^ 'or small rods^ of a thickness varying
according to the size of the hooks intended to
.be made. The bars for the fine hooks are a
little flattened ; those for the larger sorts are
cut into lengths of from three to four inches^
sufficient for two hooks^ and are then in the
form of a double-pointed spear. The artist
■requires a hammer^ a knife^ a pair of pincers^
an iron semi-cleam, two files, one finer than
.the other, a wrest, a bender, long and short
tongs, and an anvil. Let the rod be heated in
a charcoal fire, when the barb or witter may
be raised with the knife, taking care not to cut
too deep. The point is then, after cooling,
sharpened by filing it on a piece of hard wood;
with a dent to receive the bar. The shank is
next thinned, flattened, the upper t>art made
square, and the whole worked off with the
polishing.file. Again let it be put in the fire,
and bent by a turn of the wrest round circular
pincers. It is now cut from the bar, put into
the fire a third time, and brought to a slight
red heat, and, taking it out suddenly, it is
plunged into cold water. The temper is given
by placing it on an iron heated in the same
fire till it becomes bright blue, and while still
hot it is surrounded with candle-grease, which
gives it a black colour. This completes the
process."

Reel :-^ We have seen' several inventions
intended as improvements of the ordinary
multiplying-reel, but we do not by any means
deem them such. We have heard Chester-
man's self-winding reel much commended, but
we can see only one advantage in it, namely,
that it winds up with great speed ; but, then,
an insuperable objection to it is, that there is a
difficulty in modifying that speed, according to
will; and that, consequently, in playing a fish,
you have not free power over its mechanism.
Besides, its construction is heavy and over-
complicated. A common reel, which multi-
plies four times,* is the sort-of-one we use,
and we find that it possesses all the requisites
pecessary in such an apparatus. It possesses
the power of winding up the line rapidly, is
sufficiently small and light, and is not liable
to be easily deranged. We recommend a mo-

•Mr. Bainbridge urges strong objecUong to the multi-
plying-reel, the chief one of which is, " that the power of
the whees. as now arranged, is inadequate to move a

M,-^t.i?^ *"" ** *"'•■«* •'»■«»' »"« """""O" plain

r !^L ^"^^ ""•'* '•^'°"»' t»»ey are more to be
depended upon for certainty and secarity." m our ado!

contented ourselves with 1 ^^ Wnltiplymg-reel, we

heirloom - and, to ty "CTZT ^ "T"*' " "^ *"*

any instance in which »- hi! ! ' ^* ^^ "*** recollect

y m Which we had to complain of its defects.

derate-sized reel of this sort^ capable of holding
twenty-five yards of line, and the wheels and
cogs of which are made of iron or steel in pre-
ference to brass, which latter metal is too lia*
ble to break at the points of the cogs. The
leel must be a stop one^ and if the works of it
be well finished, as those of the London reels
generally are, the angler need not trouble him-
self about any newer invention. It makes very
little difference whether it be fitted to the rod
by means of a plate or screwed on ; but as
modern rods are for the most part made with a
brass hoop or slide, to receive the plate-reel^
perhaps it is the preferable one. Moreover,
the plate-reel will fit every rod that has got a
slide to it, and is more easily put on and taken
off. The reel is to be placed about four inches
from the but^end of the rod, underneath it,*
with the line passing directly straight from it
through the rings, which, of course, will be
also underneath the rod. The rod is to be

* On the question involving the best manner of placing
the reel, the Authors of this work^ for the first time, differ.
W. S. maintains, that the reel should be placed under the
rod, with its handle on the left side, and his opinion is
supported by the practice of almost all English anglers.
On the contrary, £. F. G. contends, that the reel should
be placed upon and above the rod, about a foot from the
but-end, with its handle towards the right, and that the
rod- should be held in the right h^nd immediately below
the reel, with the right thumb firmly resting on the upper
bar of the reel. This is the Irish method.

grasped in the right hand^ an inch or two
ahove the reel towards the top. This is the
mode generally adopted by the anglers of the*
midland counties.

Colonel Hawker is the only authority
we mean to quote on the subject of placing oa
reels. He says, "Put on your reel with A
plate and wax-end, fifteen inches from the
bottom ; and handle your rod dose below it,
keeping the reel uppermost, as the line then
lies on, instead of under, your rod, and is,
therefore, less likely to strain the top between
the rings. The closer the rings are put toge-
ther on the Ufp, the less chance, of course, you
have of staraining or breaking it between thetn.
Use a multiplying click-reel, without a stop;
and, by not confining it with the hand while
throwing, you are sure never to break your rod
or line, by happening to raise it suddenly, at
the moment you have hooked a large fish or
weed. Let your reel be full large in propor-*
tion to the quantity of line; or it will not
always go pleasantly with it in winding up."

Landing-net: — Many a fish is lost, and
much trouble and anxiety incurred, in conse-
quence of the fly-fisher contemning the use
of the landing-net. Whether he be alone or
accompanied, such an implement is necessary,

particularly where the banks of the stream are
high^ and gently shelving strands rare. Be-
sides, the handle of it is extremely useful in
wadingy as it serves for a prop to steady your-
self on the stones and gravely and as a sort of
sound to measure the depth of water^ as you
proceed along. The handle should be made of
strong and light wood^ and consist of different
pieces screwing into one another^ or it may be
made telescope fashion^ so as to allow you to
lengthen and shorten it at pleasure. The but-
end should be adapted for the insertion, by
means of a screw, of a double sort of spike,
consisting of a strong, flat, and pointed blade,
of about five inches long, and of a small stout
crook, sharpened on the inside like a hedger's
bill-hook. This last adjunct will be found
useful in hooking and cutting off branches of
trees and other impediments in which the line
may happen to get fiaustened. The handle
should be about five feet and a half — rather
longer than shorter than this length — and the
hoop round which the mouth of the net is
placed, should form at least a circle of fourteen
inches in diameter. Landing-net hoops should
be made as light as possible, and should each
consist of four pieces of brass rod, stiffly jointed
together, so as to form a perfectly round circle

when extended^ and to fold up in a portable
compass when detached from the handle.

Clearing-ring: — Must be a heavy brass
circular ring, the diameter of which should be
two inches and a half, and which should open
and shut by means of a spring clasp. When
your line gets hooked, the clearing-ring, to
which is attached a few yards of thin strong
whip-cord, is unclasped, then fastened round
the line, and allowed to slip down on the sub-
stance in which your hook is fest. By pulling
the whip-cord line with a force proportioned to
the resistance offered, you either disengage
your hook, or pull on shore the substance in
which you got foul. The clearing-ring is so
useful an appendage to the angler, that we ad-
vise him never to fish without it.

FisMng-basket or Creel: — On this subject,
gentle reader, we have scarcely one word of
advice to give. Your own taste will direct you.
to choose a neat osier one, and your own judg-
ment must modify its capaciousness. But be
the pannier, that you buckle over your shoulders,
of small, or moderate, or large dimensions, we
fervently hope that on every return from the
river side, you need not be ashamed of allow-
ing the hand of curiosity to lift up its lid, or

the eye of inquiry to peer into its contents.
May it ever be^ brother craftsman^ as is this
glass of Ashbome ale^* which on this cold
snowy evening of February^ as we are finishing
this dry chapter of detail^ we cordially quaff to
your health and succeaa — a brimming bumper !

'^Viatob: — Beliere me, yoa hare good ale in* the
Morelands, for better than that at Ashborne.

** PiscATOB : ^•■Tkai it mi^ soon he ! for ABbbome has
(which is a kind of riddle) always in it, the best malt and
the worst ale in England." Cotton,

Professor Rennie, in a note on this passage, says,
<< This seems to be something oontradictory to what i«
formerly stated. A friend informs me, that at this time
Ashbome ale is quite famous in the northern and inland
eounties."

The information of Mr. Rennie's fHend is perfectly cor-
rect. The ale to be had at the different << hosteleries*' of
Ashborne is equal, if not superior, in colour, strength,
flarour, and purity, to any ale of any town in the kingdom^
The famous ale of our favourite old town of Nottingham
does not surpass it. £• ;F. Q.

CHAPTER V.

ON THROWING THE LINE; HOOKING^ PLATING^
LANDING, AND KILLING A FISH.

The different operations, which we are
ahout to describe in this chapter, are, to the
fly-fisher, of the very last importance. You
may have the best rod and tackle that ever
appeared on the banks of the Dove, and you
may have "toleration" to fish in the most
closely-preserved parts of that lovely stream —
in those parts of it which are absolutely alive
with trout and grayling — but if you do not
know how to throw, cast, or fling a line in the
manner of an artist, you will not be able to
make a single fin show itself above the surface
of the water. "He throws a fly as well as
any man in England," is a common eulogistic
expression, as if perfection in that single
operation was a guarantee that the adept was
equally skilled in every thing that pertains to
his art. It is tantamount to saying, he is
the best fly-fisher in England. We shall.

with our usual earnestness to convey practical
instruction to our gentle readers, be as plain
and precise on this subject as possible; first
stating our own method of throwing a line,
and then extracting the pith and marrow of
the information communicated by the best
authorities on this nearly all-absorbing matter..

JTirowing the lAne: — We recommend the
beginner, when learning how to throw a line, to
use a small and rather stiff rod, of the length
of eleven feet. Let him commence, having the
wind on his back, with about six yards of line
out — using the reel-line, and not the casting-
line, until he can fling with some little ease and
precision — and let him throw at a mark in
the water, such as the head of a pile or small
rock. The process of throwing the line is per-
formed by the wrist and elbow joints, and re-
quires no effort from the other parts of the
body. The rod, grasped tightly in the right
hand a few inches above the but-end, is sent
back by a sharp impulsion or jerk of the wrist
backwards toward the shoulder, and the motion
is stopped by the play of the elbow joint being
arrested by the meeting of the muscles in the
fleshy or rather muscular parts of the lower and
upper bones of the arm. When this stoppage
takes place,, the rod is bent backwards with

sufficient sweep or swing to extend to the nt^
mo^t the line in the same hackward direction^
and then the rod most he returned with a jerk
of the wrist forwards^ when the line will he also
returned^ and fall upon the water. In making
the throw forwards^ and aiming at any particu*
lar spot of the river^ just as your line comes
about a yard above it, suddenly check the im-
pulsion given by the wrist to the rod^ and the
descent of your line will be suspended for an
instant^ after which it will by its own weight
fioatingly fall over the spot to which you
directed it. This last operation is to be parti^
cularly attended to, for if performed property
the line will fall gossamer-like on the water,
and your flies will not ruffle the surfeice of the
water more than the descent of so many living
natural flies would.

When the learner can throw the reel-line tol-
erably well^ and when he has lost all fear of
breaking his rod or cracking his line by the
operation of castings let him use a gut castings
line^ of about two yards in lengthy with a rather
large tail-fly attached to it. After he find?
that he can use this tackle safely, he may
lengthen his casting-line half a yard more, and,
placing on it, in addition to the tail-fly or
stretcher, two droppers at the distance pointed
out in a previous chapter, commence fishing

in reality. The motion of the wrist and elbow
is not oblique, but fairly straight backwards and
forwards ; and if a circular motion be given to
them^ it should be slightly from left to rights
which will often give^ if used gently and easily^
a circular and safe sweep to the casting-line.
The operation of throwing should not be per-
formed suddenly or swiftly, but with a certain
suppleness in the play of the joints that will
insure to your rod and line a safe and sufficient
bend and sweep.

, We recommend the beginner never to endea*
vour to cast a line against the wind. It is an
extremely difficult and dangerous operation,
and can only be performed by an old prac*
titioner, and even by him, not satisfactorily
unless he use a stiff rod and a hair reel-line. Be-
sides, the acquisition is not of vital importance,
as every fly-fisher will choose to take Ihat side
of the river from which* the wind blows, and it
is only in consequence of a sudden winding of
the river^ that the wind is brought to blow in his
teeth. When this happens, you must not try to
throw in the eye of the wind, but cast obliquely
right or left, according to the nature of circum-
stances. It is not difficult to throw against
the wind when it blows on your left, but when
it blows on your right, and you desire to fish
against it, you must sweep your rod over your

left shoulder^ and fling back-handed towaxdi
the right. This operation is performed like
that of a coachman wishing to touch with the
lash of the whip the left ear of the near leader*
These instructions are directed to the angler
who fishes with the right hand. The left-
handed must proceed contrawise.

When you fish, begin at the head of a stream^
fishing the side nearest to you first, and then
casting to the opposite side* Let your flies
float gently down the water, i?orking them
gradually towards you, and making a fresh cast
every two or three yards you fish- We di«*
tinctly recommend frequent casting. A fish
generally takes the fly immediately it has
touched the water — provided always it be
delicately and lightly flung — and the quick
repetition of casting whisks the water out of
your flies and line, and consequently keeps
them drier and lighter than if they were left to
* float a longer time in the water. You should
not, except in a strong wind, allow any of your
reel-line to be on the water ; your casting-line
alone should be on the water, and then only
just so much of it as will allow you to see dis-
tinctly on the surface the drop-fly that is near*-
est to you. Remember to keep invariably that
fly on the surface of the water and within sight
if you can, as you will then be assured, that you

are not fishing with your other flies too deeply
immersed in the water^ and as you will be
enabled to judge of the exact position of your
casting-line. Besides, by keeping your nearest
dropper in the position recommended, you will
the more readily perceive a fish rise, and have
a fairer chance of striking him promptly and
successfully. In fishing, particularly for gray-
ling, miss no part of the stream, however shal-
low, but fish it carefully inch by inch. Never
neglect those little partial streams, caused by
small obstructions in the bed of the river, and
which are often to be found a little above the
formation of the head of a rapid current. It is
scarcely necessary to add, that in the curls and
eddies so common at the tails of sharp streams,
the best fish frequently lie. It is complete
loss of time to fish with artificial flies in pools,
and where the water runs deep and smooth,
unless the day be dark and windy, and a nice
curl on the surface. On such days, if the fish
be in rising humour, stick to the deeps, and
you may be sure that you will catch few fish
that are not large ones. If you see a fish rising
at a natural bait, or if he rises at your fly with-
out taking it, try him two or three times by
casting your flies as lightly as may be a couple
of feet higher up than the spot where he rose.
Me will not be tempted ; press him no longer.

but continue far hi^ an hour fishing ekewhere ;
then come back^ and it is very probable that
you will hook him at the very first cast. By
adhering to this practice we have been success-
ful times out of mind. It is useless to remain
a quarter of an hour flinging over the same
fish^ as by showing him your flies too often you
lose the chance of catching him by-a\^d-by,
when a seeming neglect^ as is often the case
with other animals, will succeed in alluring
him.* When you are obliged to fish at a con-
siderable distance, it will be impossible for you
to prevent some portion of the reel-line falling
cm the water, but lift it off as, speedily as you
can, by elevating your rod to a sufficient height.
In all cases, and in all weathers, fish as fcur
firom the river-side as the nature of the bank
and river will permit

Mr. Alfred Ronalds, whose precepts are
generally scientific, says, " In order to acquire
the art o( throwing a fly, it may be advisable
to practise previously to visiting the stream,
in an open space free from trees, where a piece
of paper may represent the spot required to be

* "If you have a rise, but ftdl to hook year gtuney
either by strikhig' prematurely, or from the fish havlog
missed his spring, you may throw over him again almost
directly, if he be a small one ; but, if it be ' the monarch
of the brook,' don't venture near the spot again for half
an hour at least." Hansard.

thrown to. Taking .the wind in his hack^ the
tyro^ with a short line at firsts may attempt to
cast within an inch or two of the paper^ and
lifterwards by degrees lengthen his line as his
improvement proceeds; he may then try to
throw in such a direction^ that the wind may
in some measure oppose the line and rod; and^
lastly^ he 'may practise throwing against the
wind. In this way any person may become an
adept in throwing a fly^ much sooner than by
trusting solely to the experience which he may
get when on the water-side; for his attention
being then wholly engrossed by the hopes of a
rise^ &c. a bad habit may be very easily engen-
dered^ which will not be as easily got rid of.
He should endeavour to impart to the line a
good uniform sweep or curve round the head;
for if it returns too quickly or sharply from
behind him, a crack will be heard, and the fly
whipped off. There is some little difficulty in
acquiring this management. The larger the
fly the more resistance it meets with in the air;
this resistance causes it to make a better curve,
and the danger of smacking it off is lessened.
A palmer is not easily lost in this manner.
The attempt to describe by words all the
precautions and manipulations necessary for
throwing a fly successfully and gracefully,

would be as liopeless a task as that of teaching

£ 5

to dance by such means. It must be abun.
dandy evident, that the fly should drop as
lighUy as possible on the water, and that an
awkward unmannerly spladi will inevitably
mar the delusion."

Professor Rennie observes, "As considera.
ble art is required in throwing the line, so as
to make the flies faU lightly on the water, and
not scare the fish, I would recommend a
begmner to observe some good fly-fisher, and
then practise as nearly as he can, after him at
first m a purling stream or rapid current, tiU
he can cast dexterously in stiUer water. It i,
useful, also, to commence with a short line
increasmg it by degrees, for it is impossible'
for a beginner to throw eighteen yards at first
and he cannot consider himself out of hiJ
apprenticeship, till he can throw twelve or
fifteen yar.^ without cracking off his flies, or
entanghng his tackle,"

Mr. CanroU, in his Angler's Vade Mecum
gives the following directions :-« I, ^^^
your hne and flies, observe to make the semT
circle with your rod, in order to avoid snai
pmg your flies ; and after you have made yS
cast, raise the point of your rod to prevent^
muchof your line from falling into 'the wate^
properly, „o more should faU than what vour'
flies are attached to. Manao.; ^

jyianage so as to let

your flies drop lightly on the water, which,
with a little well-directed practice, you will
soon attain. Begin to fish at the head of a
stream, and use caution, for there, generally,
the best game lies, particularly when there are
flies coming down the river. When you cast
your flies across the stream, keep them in
gentle motion, to prevent the trouts from per-
ceiving the cheat ; if you give them too long a
time they discover it, or if they take it, when
they perceive the fraud, they quickly disen-
gage themselves. If it is a slow-running
water, let your flies sink a little, as you draw
them towards you."

Mr. Cotton justly observes, "To fish fine
and far off is the first and principal rule for
trout angling .... In casting your line, do
it always before you, and so that your fly may
first fall upon the water, and as little of your
line with it as possible : though if the wind be
stiff, you will then, of necessity, be compelled
to drown a good part of your line, to keep your
fly in the water. And, in casting your fly, you
must aim at the farther or nearer bank, as the
wind serves your turn, which also will be with,
and against you, on the same side, several
times in an hour, as the* river winds in its
course, and you will be forced to angle up and
down by turns accordingly; but are to endea-

vour^ as miush as yoa can, to hate the wind
evermore on your back. And always be sure
to stand as &r off the bank as the length will
give you leave^ when you throw to the contrary
side ; though^ when the wind will not permit
you so to do^ and that you are constrained
to angle on the same side whereon you stand,
you must then stand on the very brink of the
river^ and cast your fly at the utmost length of
your rod and line^ up or down the river, as
the gale serves."

Mr. John Sidney Hawkins says, "Till you
fire a proficient, every throw will go near to
cost you a hook ; therefore, practise for som^
time without ^ne."

Mr. Taylor's observations show that h^
understood the matter in question well. He
directs, '^ Zjet out the line about half as long
again as the rod; and holding that (the rod)
properly in one hand, and the line near to the
fly (the stretcher) in the other, give your rod a
motion from right to left, and as you HM>ve the
rod backwards, in order to throw out the line,
let go the line out of your hand at the s^me
time, and try several throws at this length;
then let out more line, and try that, still using
more and more, tiU you can manage any
length needfiil ; but about nine yards is quxtt
sufficient for any one to practise with ; and

observ^; that in raising your line^ in order to
throw it in again^ you should wave your rod
A little round yoor head^ and not bring it
directly backwards ; nor must you return the
line too soon^ nor until it has gpne its length
behind you, or you will certainly whip off your
end-fly. There is a great art in making your
line fall light on the water, and showing the
flies well to the fish. The best way I can
direct is, that when you have thrown out your
line, contriving to let it and the flies fall a»
lightly and naturally as possible, you should
xaise your rod gently and by degrees (some^^
times with a kind of gentle trembling hand, as
it were), which will bring the flies on a little
towards you, still letting them go down with
the stream ; but never draw them against it>
for it is unnatural; and before the line comes
too near you, throw out again. When you
see a fish rise at the natural fly, throw out
about a yard above him, but not directly over
bis head, and let your fly or flies move gently
towards him, which will show it him in more
natural form^ and will tempt him more to take
it. Experience and observation alone, how-
ever, can make an angler a complete ad^t
in the art, so as to be able to throw his fly
l)ehind bushes and trees^ into holes, under

banks^ and other places^ and where in general
the best fish are found,"

Colonel Hawker gives the following recom-
mendations : — "In throwing a fly, raise the
arm well up, without labouring with your body.
Send the fly both backwards and forwards by a
sudden spring of the wrist Do not draw the
fly too near, or you lose your purchase for send-
ing it back, and, therefore, require an extra
sweep in the air before you can get it into play
again. If, after sending it back, you make the
counter-spring a moment too soon, you will
whip off your tail-fly, and if a moment too late
your line will fall in a slovenly manner. The
knack of catching this time is, therefore, the
whole art of throwing well. The motion
should be just sufficiently circular to avoid this ;
but if too circular, the spring receives too
much check, and the gut will then most proba-
bly not drop before the line. In a word, allow
the line no more than just time to unfold, be-
fore you repeat the spring of the wrist. This
must be done, or you will hear a crack, and
find that you have whipped off your tail-fly.
For this reason, I should recommend beginners
to learn at first with only a bob ; or they will
soon empty their own, or their friends' fishings
book. And, at all events, to begin learning
with a moderate length of line. . . , Sometimes

the wind blows very strong, directly across you
from the right . , 4 * Throwing with the left
hand is then a convenience ; but for those who
are not able to do this, I can suggest no better
make-shift, than to raise the rod over the left
shoulder, and throw the line by a motion simi<-
Jar to that used with a whip, when lightly hit*
ting a leader on the near side. Avoid, if you
can, going too close to the edge of the water.
Throw, if you are an fait enough to do it well,
xather for the fly to become for a moment sus-
pended across the wind, than directly down the
wind,* as it then falls still lighter, and from
this circumstance is, of course, more likely to
deceive a large fish. Prefer di'opping the fly
just under a bush or in an eddy, to the open
river; because your line is then more obscured
from the light, and the largest fish generally
monopolize the possession of such places, in
order to find and devour the more flies and
insects ; and also to be near their places of secu*
xity. If the spot is quite calm, watch the first
good fish that rises, avail yourself immediately
.of the ripple that has been made by the fish
himself, and drop in your fly a little above
where he last rose. Never let your line lie too
long, as, by so doing, you either expose your
jtackle to the fish by leaving it stationary, or
draw the line in so close, that you lose both the

power of striking your fish if he rises^ and that
of getting a good sweep for your next throw."*
A very ancient author^ whose name we can-
not learn^ says^ '^ Be sure in casting, that your
ilie fall first into the water; if the line fall
first, it scareth the fish; therefore, draw it back^
and cast again, that the flie may fall first.
When you angle in slow rivers, or still places^
with the artificial flie, cast your flie over cross
the river, and let it sink a little in the water^
and draw him gently back again, so as you
break not the water, or raise any circles or mo^
tion in the water, and let the current of the ri-
ver carry the flie gently down with the stream ;
and this way I have found the best sport iu
slow muddy rivers with the artificial flie,"

Hooking or Striking a Fish : — The moment
you see or feel a fish rise at you — the moment
that you perceive, either by sight, touch, or
hearing, that you have a rise — strike instanta^
neously, or at longest within half a second^s
pause, but strike very gently. The motion
necessary for a successful strike, is performed
by chucking the wrist rather sharply back-
wards, and slightly outwards towards the right
This operation is an extremely delicate one;
and if performed too hastily and with too much
force, you will almost invariably fail in hooking

;89

your fidi. It is better that you ^ouH strike
rather too slowly and too feebly^ than err in th^
contrary extreme; for there is frequently a
chance of the iish hooking himself. Never fail,
however^ when you have a rise, to strike some
:way or other, and reject, by all means, the adr
vice of those who recommend waiting till the fish
has hooked himself. Such advice is extremely
unsound; for if you allow the fish time to ex*
amine in the inside of his mouth — no matter
whether the examination undergoes the test
of feeling or of taste — he will assuredly dis-
cover, and that speedily, that he has not taken
in a natural bait, and he will as speedily reject
or disgorge your lure. Thousands of fish are
lost by relying on the probability, that a fish
may hook himself. Cautioning the reader to
observe a proper medium time and force in
striking, we counsel him, whenever he can, to
strike in an oblique direction, for the most
^art slantingly towards the right, as the ope-
ration of striking is peiformed in that direction
with more ease than in any other.

On tliis subject Mr. Ronalds says, that
''striking a fish is a knack, which knack, like
all others, is acquired only by practice; it
must be done by a very sudden, but not a
very strong stroke — a twitch of the wrist."

Playing a Fish : — When you have hooked*
B fish, you may tell by his motions whether yoii
have hooked him firmly or not. If hooked
firmly he will rarely, unless you force him to it>
put forth his struggles on the surface of the
water, but will dart downwards, if he be allow-
ed, and make his strongest efforts to get away
in mid*water or nearer to the bottom. If
slightly hooked, his tumbling to get free will be
performed on the top of the water : you must
calculate your mode of playing him according

* *' In striking b, fish that rises at the fly, some skiU iB
required not to lose the fish or break the line, and this
must be regulated by what appears to be the size of the
fish'; for if small, it may be at once swung out on the
bank, which is the most successful way in par-fishing;
while the attempt to do this with the trout, of any size,
would be vain. When a fish, on being hooked, descends
beneath the surface, and straggles below in the deep
water,t it may be safely inferred, that he, is securely
hooked ; whereas, when he flounders on the surface, and
tries to leap out of the water, the hook is seldom very
deep. With larger trovit, the rod should be kept bent, so
as to prevent him Arom running to the end of the line.
The strength of the line or rod should never be trusted to,
without the assistance of a landing-net. When the angler
is in the midst of the stream, if from the moment the
trout is struck, it is prevented from^Fe-descending in such
a manner, that the upper part of its head and eyes aie
retained above, or on a level with the surface, it will, for
the space of a good many seconds, be so much astonished,
as to be incapable of any active exertions, and wiU fre*
qnently allow itself to be drawn in that position, and
without resistance, straight ashore.*' Professor RennU.

•f This Is also a sign that the fish is a large one.

to those two circumstances. If he be lightly
hooke(^ it will require great art to land him;
you most be as gentle as a lamb^ coaxing him,
rather than forcing him ; and you must be ever
ready to give him line when he struggles^
Employ no violence, and even when by gentle
manoeuvring you have fairly tired him out,
guide him, rather than drag him, towards your
landing-net. When you have hooked s, fish
solidly — and this we take to be the case on
which to give general instructions for playing a
fish — if he be a tolerably large one, and if th6
river be fair and free &om obstructions, do not
endeavour, as some authors erroneously advise,
to make your fish show his head above thd
water. On the contrary, yield to him by giving
him line gradually, and let him go, if he choose
to take that direction, down current and at
mid- water. Be sure, however, that in giving
him line you do not allow him to slacken his
hold, and take particular care that you con*
stantly feel your fish, which you may always
do by holding your rod nearly perpendicular,
giving, as it is called, the but-end to him«
Never be afraid of giving your fish too much
line, provided you feel him, and can keep him
from the bottom; for there is nothing that more
speedily exhausts a fish, than to have to drag
a long length of line after him« This was the

ii&variaUe practice oi our father, and we niever
)uiew him to h>se a fish by adopting it We
Jbave seen him kill very large fish in this way,
rejecting the advice of lookers-on, who urged
rapid winding-up, and bearing strongly on the
fish; and we have observed him, notwithstand-
ing the many advisers against him, give the
fish line with a confidence that would have been
jeered at as conceited and obstinate presump*^
don, had it not been justified by success.

Playing a fish with fair length of line, takes
the stress off the weaker portions of your tac*
kle and rod, and distributes it in proportion
fsqual to the strength of the different parts of
them. Whilst in the act of playing a fish^
fivoid sinking the upper part of your rod too
low, for if you do you will lose nearly all power
over him ; and he will dart towards the bottom,
giving you a world of anxiety and trouble to
raise him to the surfeK^e or to mid-water again*
Ever keep your fish *' under buckle,'' which
means, never if you can lose your hold of him,
which is done, as we said before, by presenting
the but slightly towards the fish.* As soon as

* " When a fish is hooked in the upper part of the mouth,
by the strength of the rod applied as a lever to the line, it
is scarcely possible for him to open the gills as long as this
force is azertedi particularly when he is moving in a rapid
stream ; and when he is hooked in the lower Jaw, bia
tnouth is kept closed by the same application of tlie

the fish has made half a dozen strong turns oi^
eflforts to disengage himself, you should begi&
to wind up gradually, and direct him towards
shore. If, however, afterwards he continue^
^er and anon, to make a dash to get free, give
him line every time he does, and do not make
up your mind to land him until you pereeive
him completrfy fagged. Allow your fish to
run with the stream. Playing a fish against
stream is the i^orst practice possible ; for if you
do, you <»n scarcely calculate the great ad-
ditional weight you throw upon your tackle;
and, moreover, there are many chances, that the
force of the resistance you in such a case meet
with will tear away the fish from your hook.
This precept you may see particularly illustra-
ted, if you endeavour to spin a minnow against
the current of a rbpid stream. Even the resis-
tance ofiered to so small a fish will be frequent-
ly sufficient to tear it from off the hook. The
circumstances under which it will be peremp-

strength of the rod ; so that he is much In the same state
as that of a deer caught round the neck by the lasso of a
South- American peon, who gallops forwards, dragging
his victim after him, which ^s killed by strangulation in a
very short time. When fishes are hooked foul, that is,
on the outside of the body, as in the fins or tail, they wiU
often fight for many hours, and in such cases are seldom
caught, as they retain their powers of breathing unim*
paired ; and if they do not exhaust themselves by violent
muscular efforts, they may bid defiance to the temper
and the skUl of the fisherman.** Salmonia.

torily necessary for you to wind up your reel-
line with velocity are, when there is danger, if
you allow the fish great length of line, of get-
t;ing foul of trees, or other ohstructions, or
when you see that he darts off to get among
weeds or under the roots of bushes. Rapidity
in winding up, is particularly to be observed
when the fish strikes towards you, to get under
the trees or bank on the side from which you
are fishing. You must, besides winding up
rapidly, hold your rod with the but-end advanc-
ed over the river as far aa your arm can ex-
tend.* Having CKhausted your fish, your own
good sense will direct you to choose the most
convenient place for landing him, namely,
where the bank is most level with the watery
and where you can draw the fish ashore without
lifting him from off the water.

Landing a Fish: — Whenever you fish a-
stream, in which you are likely to catch fish
above a half-pound weight, take with you,
without fail, a landing-net. We know that
young anglers feel a sort of contempt for this

* '^ Let me tell you, my friend^ you should never allow
a fish to run to the weeds, or to strike across the stream r
you should carry him always down the stream, keeping
his head high, and in the current. If in a weedy river^
you allow a large fish to run up stream, you are almost
sure to lose him.'' Salmonia, page 28»

most useful -piece of apparatus^ and think it
savours too much of formidable formality ; but
we, old stagers, who like to take things coolly,,
and leave as little as possible to chance, never
fly-fish without one. If you fish alone, yqu
must, when you have exhausted your fish, get
him as near shore as possible, taking care^
however, not to wind him up so tightly as that
he will hang suspended above, or partly out of,
the water; but allow him simply to be near
the surface of the water. Put the stop on
your reel ; force firmly the spike of your but,
with its point in a slanting direction towards
the fish, into the ground, and sinking your
net at some distance from the fish in the
water, bring it under him from behind. Never
come yourself, or place your net, in face of a
fish. When you are accompanied by a person
who is to use the landing-net, let that person
keep in a line with you, and never go before
you. Your fish being ready to be landed,
your companion or servant must come between
you and the river, always taking care to be
near to and in a line with you ; ' and slowly
sinking the net in the water, he must pass
it tail-wise under the fish. There is no earthly
thing that frightens a fish so much as the
sight of a landing-net, or of a person appear-
ing in front of him for the purpose of landing

Urn. Such a sight arouses his seemingly
worn-out energies^ and the moment he per^
eeives it^ he dashes off^ with all the desperate
vigour of a death-and-life straggle. Hie
energy Of this lunge of despair^ if it do not
break your tackle, or free your quarry, wffl,
at all events^ cause you much additional
trouble. The fish being fairly in the net, the
person holding it should not rudely throw the
fish or net on the bank, but present them to
you, in order that you may speedily take the
fish from off the hook, and undo any tangles
that may be in your line or flies. Expedition
in this last point is important, especially when
fish are upon the rise, and when "Time is to
he taken by the fore-lock.^ Never take hold/
nor let any else take hold, of your line while*
landing a fish.

Killing your Fish : — If your fish be of small
or middling size, kill them immediately by
hitting them with a little hammer on the back
of the neck, or by striking that part, holding
the fish by the tail, once or twice sharply
against the but-end of the rod. If the fish
be large, it will be ad.visable to crimp him.*

*'" Ctimping, by preventing the irritability of the i5bre
from being gnidaaUy exhausted, seems to preserve it so
hard and crisp, that it breaks under the teeth ; and a fresh
fish not crimped i» generally tough.** Sdlnumia, page 98.

We shall conclude this chapter^ by giving
two or three extracts taken from standard
authorities. They refer chiefly to playing and
landing a fish.

Mr. Ronalds recommends, that "having
hooked a fish, the rod should be carefiilly retain-
ed in that position which will allow its greatest
pliability to be exerted. For beginners to do
this, it may be advisable that they should get it
up over the shoulder, and present the but-end
towards the fish. A gentle pull must now be
kept upon the fish, and he should be led down
the stream rather than up, making use of the
reel as occasion may require, to shorten the
line. But if he runs in towards the bank upon
which the fisherman stands, it will be necessary
for him to approach the edge of the water as
nearly as possible, holding the rod with an out-
stretched arm in almost an horizontal position;
and if the reel is of the usual bad construction,
it will be also necessary to pull in the line as
quickly as possible with the left hand, this may
prevent the fish from reaching his harbour ; if
it should not, he will most likely twist the
gut round roots, &c., and break away. To kill
him, the nose must be kept up as much as pos-
sible ; should he be very importunate and reso-
lute, he may be lent a little more line now and
then, but it must be promptly retaken with tre-

mendous interest, and got up as short as pos-
sible. After various fruitless efforts to escape^
which exhaust his strength, the nose may be
got fairly out of the water, he may be towed
gently to the side, and the landing-net passed
under him. From the time of hooking the fish,
if a large one, to the time of landing, care must
be had, that the line shall not be touched by the
hand, excepting under the just-mentioned cir-
cumstances ; all should depend upon the plia-
bility of the rod. In case a landing-net should
not be at hand, the reel may be stopped from
running back, the rod stuck up in the ground
by the spike, and, both hands being disengaged,
the fisherman may stoop down and grasp him
firmly behind the gUls."

Colonel Hawker says, " A small fish is, of
course, not even worth the wear and tear of
a reel. But if you happen to hook a good one,
wind up immediately; and the moment you
have got him under command of a short line,
hold your rod well on the bend, with just pur-
chase enough to keep him from going under
a weed, or rubbing out your hook by boring his
nose in the gravel. Observe a fish, and you
will always perceive, that, after he finds he is
your prisoner, he does all he can to get down,
as the best means of escape. After getting
your fish under the command of a short line
and well-bent rod, let him run, and walk by the

side of him^ keeping a delicate hold of him^
with just purchase enough, as I before observed,
to prevent his going down; when he strikes,
ease him at the same instant; and when he
becomes faint, pull him gently down stream ;
and, as soon as you have overpowered him, get
his nose up to the top of the water ; and, when
he is nearly drowned, begin to tow him gently
towards the shore. Never attempt to lift him
out of the water by the line, but haul him on
to some sloping place ; then stick the spike of
your rod in the ground, with the rod a little on
the bend ; crawl slily up as quick as possible,
and put your hands under him, and not too for-
ward. If you use a landing-net (which, for
saving time, and particularly where the banks
are steep, is sometimes a necessary appendage),
let it be as light as possible, very long in the
handle, and three times as large as what people
generally carry. Take care that neither that,
nor the man who may assist you with it, goes
even in sight of the water, till the fish is
brought well to the surface, and fairly within
reach ; and then you have only to have the net
put under him, or keep his eyes above water,
tow him into it. Mind this, or the landing-net
and your man will prove enemies, instead of
assistants, to your sport. Nothing will so
soon, or suddenly, rouse a sick fish, as the sight
of a man or a landing-net."

100

CHAPTER VI.

ON THE DIFFERENT MATERIALS USED FOR
DRESSING ARTIFICIAL FLIES; AND THE
SIMPLEST^ SHORTEST^ AND BEST MODE OF
DRESSING OR MAKING THEM POINTED OUT.

Though every writer on fly-fishing tells his
readers^ that it is almost impossible to teach
them how to dress or tie on flies by written in-
structions, we think that if such instructions be
plainly written, any studious and intelligent
person may so fiilly understand them, as to be
able to put them in a very short time into
practice. Having attentively read the direc-
tions given by many different authors on this
chief point of the art, we are obliged, though
with considerable reluctance, to come to the
ungenerous conclusion, that they have never
practised fly-dressing themselves, or rarely
seen it performed by others. We have also
observed, in the course of our perusal of dif-
ferent treatises on fly-fishing, that the bro-
thers of the angle have not been over nice in
keeping their hands from ^^ picking and steal-

101

ing;'* and, what is worse than all, that they
have studiously concealed the sources from
which their pilferings were extracted. Au-
thors, even of standard reputation, are liable
to this charge. Best has taken from Cotton,
nearly verbatim, the latter's instructions how
to make a fly which is not a hackle or palmer-
fly ; and in Bowlker's Art of Angling we find
that Mr. Bainbridge's list of materials, and his
directions for dressing a fly, are, without
acknowledgment, inserted. We could point
out many serious instances of plagiarism, but
for the present we content ourselves with
making the general charge, hoping that
authors on angling will, in future editions of
their works, name the authorities to whose
labours and observations they are so deeply
indebted.

We beg to state, that we never fish, save now
and then for comparison' sake, with any other
flies except those that have been fashioned by
our own fingers; and that we never use any
materials but those of which we shall give a
full list and description. We have no arrive
pens^e — ^we withhold no secret from our readers
•—all the arcana of the art, which hitherto we
have kept to ourselves, we now, without the
slightest restriction, fully divulge for the
benefit of the public. We shall have to men-

102

tion flies^ whose colours and mode of dressing
were only known to ourselves, and which have
killed fish by dozens, when no other flies could
move a fin; and in doing so, it is not our inten-
tion to withhold any single detail necessary for
the perfect formation of such flies. It is our
sincere desire and anxious hope, that every
reader of this book may become as practically
and theoretically skilful — yea, e r en more so —
than we are ourselves in every thing that
relates to the art of fly-fishing.

Materials used in Fty-dressing : — Silk of
every shade and colour is the first requisite.
The colour of the silk must always exactly cor-
respond with the colour of the body of the fly
you mean to imitate. The most useful silks are
those of the following colours : straw, brim-
stone, fawn, light and dark Esterhazy, light
and dark orange, light and dai'k purple, dark
puce, black, different shades of yellow, crimson,
red, and brown. The strongest in proportion
to its substance, the finest and the best silk for
fly-dressing, is to be procured at Worcester,
and you must ask for that sort which is
used by glovers in stitching ladies' finest kid
gloves. The silk of this sort, which is com-
posed of two twists, will be found the most
useful for general purposes.

103

Wings of Artificial Flies : — The best wings
for artificial flies are to be made of the longest
fibres or plumelets, stripped from the stem
or shaft of the wing of the birds which we are
about to name. They are to be stripped from
that side of the feather, which, in its natural
state, lies next to the body of the bird : — from
the wings of the starling, field-fare, black-bird,
red-wing, lark, hen pheasant, woodcock, land-
rail, grouse, partridge, dotterel, snipe, golden-
plover, and from feathers of different shades,
plucked from the body, under the wing, of a
mallard or common wild-drake.

Hackles or Feathers^ ttsed to imitate the Legs*
of Flies : — The scarcest and best hackles are
duns of all shades, particulai'ly those which
possess the clearest different shades of blue;
furnace hackles, which are of a red colour, with
a black streak along the stem up the middle of
the feather; red hackles, light and dark
ginger, black and grizzled hackles. Those
hackles are to be got in the greatest state of
perfection, from off the upper part of the n^cks
of cocks. They should be plucked from those
parts where they grow from half an inch to two
inches long. When dun hackles cannot be
procured from cocks, you must use those
plucked from dun hens, which, though they
* And sometimes the wiags.

104

are considered by some an efficient substitute,
ai*e, in consequence of the softness of their
fibre^ incapable of resisting water so well as
the hackles of the male bird. The best time
for plucking dun birds is^ in the middle of
winter ; for, as Mr. Bainbridge justly remarks,
^^The feathers are then perfect and free from
that disagreeable matter, which, at other
times, is generally found in the pen part of the
feather." Dun hackles, when plucked in
March, and exposed to the action of the sun's
heat, assume a fine yellow tinge, and become
that useful feather, called the yellow dun.
Whenever a dun cock — a pure dun one —
falls into the hands of the fly-fisher — he
should be treated as a thing beloved. The
best walk at some farm-house should be select-
ed for him, knd the humanity and honesty of
the persons to whom you intrust the gallant
bird, should be unquestionable.

Feathers, which make excellent hackles, can
be got from off the back of the grouse, from
the tail of the common wren, from the breast
and back of the partridge, from the outside part
nearest the body of the golden plover's wing,
from the inside of the snipe's wing, and from
the crests of the heron and green-plover.

Dulhmgs : — The general name of the mate-

105

rial of which the bodies of artificial flies are
made, is dubbing. The most commonly-used
and the best sort of dubbing is^ unravelled mo-
hair, of nearly every colour, but particularly of
the colour of the different sorts of silk already
recommended. No material better resists the
action of water, or changes colour less when
immersed in it, than mohair. Good mohair ig
to be procured from the ends of pieces of cloth.
Camlets of every colour are necessary. Also
divers sorts of furs that are, or may be, dyed
every colour ; particularly far from the dark part
of the hare's ear, from the nape of the hare's
neck, rabbit's fur variously dyed, mole's, rat's,
and monkey's fur. The latter fur can be pro-
cured of divers colours even in its natural
state, and, by reason of its not imbibing water
easily, is one of the best sorts of fars. A rich
dun dubbing is to be procured, by combing
with a fine-toothed comb the back of a lead-
coloured grey-hound. Hog's fur, which gi'ows
between the roots of the bristles, dyed of vari-
ous colours, bear's far, fox's fur, fur got off the
belly of a hedge-hog, the light yellow far from
off the martin's neck, are all usefal as dubbing.
Dubbings of various hues and of excellent
quality, resisting the water well, and not losing
their colour when in it, are to be found in

tan-yards among the hairs that fall off the

F 5

106

skins, and likewise among pieces of plaster
that are stripped from old walls and ceilings.
Lime not only changes the original colour of
hair, but adds to its capability of withstanding
water.

Herls : — The plumelets of that description
of feather which grows in the peacock's tail,
are denominated herls. They are chiefly used
in the formation of the bodies of palmer-flies.
The best are those found in ostrich feathers,
dyed variously, and in peacock's feathers of
every gradation of hue. The feathers forming
the crest of the green-plover may be considered
in the light of a fine black herl.

Ribbing: — For ribbing flies — chiefly pal-
mer ones — gold and silver twist is used, and
may be very easily procured from the hat-bands
of livery servants. The brighter and finer the
twist the better. Gold and silver tinsel is
sometimes used in dressing large-bodied flies,
but the best anglers in Derbyshire consider it
valueless.

FLY-MAKING.

We have now, benevolent reader, pointed
out to you all the materials necessary for the
construction of flies. We shall proceed then.

107

forthwith^ to teach you how to use those ma-
terials. In order to make our instructions
more lucid^ we will lay down eight general rules
for dressing flies. Every fly, except two or
three, which we shall teach how to dress in the
proper place, when we come to speak of them
separately, is made according to some one of
the eight rules about to be laid down. We
begin with those flies which are most easily
made.

Rule 1 . — To make a Plain Hackle : — Take
your hook between the points of the thumb
and fore-finger of your left hand. Hold it
firmly by the shank, with the tip of the shank
slightly projecting beyond your finger-ends,
towards the right. The back of the shank is
to be upwards. Take your waxed silk, holding
the left point of it, as you do the hook, and
whip it three times tightly round the shank of
the hook, towards the end — that is, in a con-
trary direction to the bend. Hold down your
silk, out of your way, by placing it, and hold-
ing it, between the middle and third fingers of
your left hand. Then take your link of gut,
with a single knot on the end, and having
moistened it in your mouth, place the knotted-
end pai'allel with the shank, and between the
shank and your left fore-finger, and let the
gut pass down the shank a little more than half

108

way towards the bend. Take your silk between
the fore-finger and thumb of your right-hand^
and whip it tightly round the shank and gut
three times in the direction of the bend. Rest
your silk as before between the middle and
third fingers of your left-hand. You have now
finished the first operation^ namely^ that of
attaching the hook and gut together ; and in
dressing every sort of fly, bear in mind, that it
is to be performed in a similar way. Now take
your hackle-feather, and having stripped it of
the downy fibres, on each side the stem down
to its root, place it against the shank of the
hook, on the side nearest your body, with its
root pointing towards the bend of the hook;
then^ and in the same direction, whip the silk
sharply three times round the hook, gut, and
root-end of the feather, and cut off with a fine-
pointed small scissors, any of the root that
remains. Having done so, take the feather by
its point between the thumb and fore-finger of
the right-hand, and wind it in close laps five or
six times — the number of laps to be propor-
tioned to the size of the hook and fly — down
the shank towards the bend; then make two
laps of the silk over the point of the feather ;
cut away with your scissors what remains un-
covered by the silk of the point of the feather ;
and, lastly, waxing your silk afresh, fasten it

109

'With two loops^ or invisible knots^ just where
the bend begins^ or opposite to the barbed point
of your hook.

It is necessary to remark here^ that the chief
operations performed in fly-dressing are very
much facilitated^ by allowing the nails of the
thumbs and fore-fingers to grow long. They
will then preclude the necessity of using a
pliars. During the different operations your
silk should be frequently waxed^ and the easiest
way to do so is^ to take the extreme point of
the silk between your teeth^ the other part being
round the hook held in your left-hand^ and
with the wax in your right-hand^ rub the silk
sharply up and down three or four times. At
the end of this chapter we shall give a recipe —
and it is an unique one — of the only sort of
wax proper for making flies.

Rule 2. — Hota to make a Palmer-Jly^ or
Hackley with a Body: — Though hackles and
palmer-flies are by many considered one and
the same^ we have made^ in order to simplify
our rules^ a distinction between them. The
distinction is merely artificial. We will sup-
pose you about to dress the red-palmer. The
first operation^ namely^ that of whipping your
silk round the hook^ and afterwards round your
hook and gut^ is to be performed according to

110

the instructions of Rule 1. Then take your
hackle-feather^ prepared and placed as pointed
out in that rule^ and lap your silk once round it
and the shank ; place the thick end of your
herl (in making the red-palmer^ it will be a pea-*
cock's herl) by the side of your hackle^ and
whip your silk round the herl, hackle, gut, and
shank of the hook, two or three times, according
to the size of your hook* and fly ; then cut the
thick ends of your hackle and herl off; wax
your silk anew, and lap the herl five or six
times — each lap close upon the other —
towards the bend of the hook ; hold your herl
tight between the left-thumb and fore-finger,
in the way you are holding the hook; then
take the point of the hackle-feather in your
right-hand fingers, and wrap it thickly five or
six times over the herl in the direction of the
bend ; -make two laps of your silk over all ; cut
away the remaining point of the hackle-feather,
and then wrap your herl further on towards the
bend twice round the hook, make one lap of
your silk over the herl, and cut away all that
remains of it. Fasten your silk — again wax-
ing it anew — with two loop-knots near the

* No. 3 Kendal hook is the best size for palmers fished
with on the Dove ; you may use No. 4 or No. 5 in some
of the smaller streams of Derbyshire, where larFse and flies,
on account of locality and atmosphere, are of a larger
growth.

Ill

bend^ and then your palmer will be ready for
his pilgrimage.

Rule 3. — How to make a Palmer^ ribbed
with Gold^tmst : — Suppose you are going to
dress the black or golden palmer. Having
completed the first operation described in
our first rule, put on your red-hackle with
only one lap of silk, then by the side of
that fasten on your gold-twist with a single
lap of silk, and then attach outside them your
black-ostrich herl, with two laps of silk. Cut
away the but-ends of twist, hackle, and herl,
and wind the latter four or five times closely
round the shank of the hook, in the direction
of the bend; then take the gold-twist, and
wrap it in the same direction three times
round the herl ; after that take your red-hac-
kle by the point, and wind it in thick laps
over all. Now withdraw, in a backward direc-
tion, towards the end of the shank, the herl
and the twist that have been held, while you
were winding the hackle, between the thumb
and finger of the left-hand, and make fast the
end of the hackle with two laps of the silk.
Again take the ostrich herl, and wind it
thickly three or four times round the hook
towards the bend, then rib with windings of
the twist to the last lap of the herl ; fasten

112

down the lierl and twist with two loop-knots
of the silk, cut off their remaining ends, and
fasten the whole, opposite the barb of the
hook, with a single knot of the silk.

All descriptions of palmers are to be made
after the manner directed in these three first
rules.

Rule 4. — How to make a Fly with Wings
and simple Dubbing : — First operation the
same as before described. Having stripped
a sufficient quantity of fibres, to form your
wings, from the feather of the starling's wing-
er from that of the wing of any bird men-
tioned in our list of fly-making materials —
place it on the back of the shank, with the
roots pointing towards the bend, and the
points of the feather towards your right-hand ;
then lap the isilk, at a short distance from the
end of the shank, twice around the feathers
and shank. With your right-hand thumb-nail,
force upright all that part of the wing which
lies to the right of the silk laps ; divide equally
and exactly, into two parts, on each s\de of the
shank, your feathers, so as to make two wings
of exact proportion the one with the other, in
every respect ; then bring your silk under that
wing which is next to your body, and over it
through the separation of the wings, in the

113

direction of your left-hand fingers ; next bring
the silk round the wing on the right side of
the shank, drawing it towards your left through
the separated wings; pass the silk once more,
as you did in the first instance, through the
wings. Now cut off the roots of the wings,
and bending the points of the wings, by taking
them together between your right-thumb and
fore-finger, down towards the bend of the hook,
and holding them down on the shank firmly in
tiiat position, lap your silk three times between
the bent-down wings, and the point of the
shank. This operation forms the head of the
fly, and serves to keep the wings from falling
back, and to retain them in an upright posi-
tion. Now take your dubbing, whatever it
may be — but that composed of mohair is,
perhaps, the best for beginners to commence
with — and laying it thinly round your silk,
well waxed, spin the silk three or four times
sharply round, between the thumb and fore-
finger of the right-hand, which will cause the
dubbing to stick round it firmly and evenly;
and then take your silk, with the dubbing
spun neatly about it, and lap it close under the
wings on the side next the bend, four or five
times, or until you see that there is sufficient
dubbing lapped round the hook to form a body
of proper length and thickness. Then putting

114

the end of the silk between your teeth^ rub the
silk from the hook towards your mouth with
your wax^ in order to clear away the dubbing
that is not wanted; and whipping your silk,
twice round the shank^ fasten it at the bend
with two loop-knots. Now examine the shape
of your fly, and if you find that the dubbing lies
clumsily and unproportionably round the hook,
pick it out with the point of a needle when
enough of it does not show, or clip it oiF with
your scissors when you find it too long or too
thick.

Rule 5. — How to make a Grouse or a
WrerCs Hackle : — Lap your hook and gut toge-
ther in the usual way. Strip off the soft fibres
from the quill-end of such feather as you are
going to use, and, instead of placing that end to
be first whipped on to the shank of the hook, as
you did in dressing the simple hackle, you must
fasten on to the shank the tip-end of the fea-
ther, having first made a separation in the
fibres of the feather, for your silk to pass without
obstruction through. This separation is made
by forcing, from opposite points of each side of
the stem, the fibres backwards towards the
root of the feather. Whip your silk twice
round the point of the feather, at the place
where the fibres are separated, and then cut off

115

what remains^ in the direction of the bend^ of
that point. Now take between the fore-finger
and thumb of your right-hand^ the thick-end
stem of the feather^ and warp it twice round
the shank in the direction of the bend ; make
two laps of silk over the feather^ and cut away
what remains of it : fasten with two loop-knots.

Rule 6. — Winged-Jlyy with Hackle for
Legs : — Whip on your silk and gut according
to Rule 1, and tie on your wings according to
Rule 4. Having completed these operations^
strip the downy fibres off the thick-end of your
hackle-feather, and fasten it close unto the
wing^ on the bend-side^ with two laps of yoiur
silk. Cut off the thick end of the stem of the
feather, and, with your right-hand, draw back
towards the point all the fibres of the feather,
in order to separate them distinctly, and that,
when the feather is wound round the hook, the
fibres may sit more regularly. Next, take the
hackle in your right-hand fingers by its point,
and lap it round in close laps under the front of
the wing down towards the bend. Having
done this, whip your silk twice round the point
of the feather, and clip off that point ; then
fasten with three loop-knots at the bend.

Rule 7. — My with WingSy DubMnfffor Body^
and Hackle for Legs : — Proceed as before

116

directed until you have tied on your win'gs;
then attach your hackle with a single whip of
the silk; on the silk twist your dubbing, ac-
cording to the directions of Rule 4; having
done so, lap your dubbing close under the
wings and over the stem of the hackle and
hook, three times ; then clear away from your
silk the superfluous dubbing, using, as directed
in Rule 4, your wax for that purpose. Now
take your hackle by the point, and lap it over
the dubbing three times ; cut off what remains
of the point of the hackle, after having made
two whips of the silk over it, and fasten with
two loop-knots.

That exceUent fly — the sand-fly — is made
according to this method, and the beginner
will do well to put the directions of this rule
into practice by endeavouring to dress so
killing a fly.

Rule 8. — Fly with Wings j Dubbing f(Mr
JBodyy Hackle for Legs^ and ribbed tmth Gold or
Silver Twist : — This is the most difficult sort
of fly to be made. The learner will perceive,
that, at least, four different materials are to be
used to fashion it, and that, consequently, great
delicacy of manipulation is required, in order
that the shape of the fly may not be too coarse
and bulky. When the learner has succeeded

117

in making this fly well, he may consider him-
self entitled to the highest honours of our
angling academy. To obtain them he must
execute as follows: — Having put on the wings
in the usual way, he must fasten directly under
them, with one lap of silk, his twist; he must
fasten by the side of his twist the hackle, with
one lap of silk also; he must then cut the
ends of the twist and hackle away, those ends,
of course, which point in the direction of the
bend; then the dubbing must be placed on the
silk and twisted round it, and after that
twisted round the hook in sufficient quantity
to form the body ; over the dubbing he must
lap the twist two or three times, and then both
over dubbing and twist, close to the wings of
the fly, let the hackle be lapped three times ;
he must fasten the point of the hackle with
one whip of the silk, and then clip off what
remains of the point of the hackle. He must
now whip the silk twice or thrice towards the
bend, and over that he must make two laps
with the twist; he must now with a single loop-
knot of the silk fasten down the twist, and cut
off what remains of the twist. The whole must
be fEistened and finished by making too loop-
knots with the silk at the bend.

The operations described in this rule are
necessary to make the dun-drake, or March-

118

brown, one of the best — if not tbe very best:
-—flies that can be fished with, in its due sea-
son, on the Dove. We advise the learner to
try, as an exercise, to dress this fly.

Having described, as plainly and as succinct-
ly as possible, the different modes of dressing ar-
tificial flies, we wish to point out, in a few words,
the advantages of the system we adopt and
recommend. Those advantages will be more
fully understood, if our system be compared
with the system of others. The learner will
remark, that all our operations commence near
the end of the shank of the hook, and termi-
nate at the bend nearly opposite the barbed
point of the hook. They possess, therefore, the
inestimable advantage of never-ceasing unifor-
mity. The reader will also remark, that the
silk is wound or whipped but once along the
hook, and that, in consequence, tbe body of
the fly must be neater than if the silk, as is
recommended by many authors, were whipped
twice, which is nearly always done by those
who commence their operations at the bend of
the hook. Time is also saved by following our
method. Nearly all our operations being per-
formed from right to left, the motions of the
hand necessary to perform them are, in conse-
quence, the most natural. That the readet
may have an opportunity of comparing our

119

mode of dressing flies^ with the modes practised
by others, we shall, on this head, make a few
extracts from the works of those authors most
in repute.

Mr. Cotton, whose directions, as we said
before, have been taken and inserted, without
acknowledgment, in Best's work on angling,
says, " In making a fly, which is not a hackle,
or palmer-fly, you are, first, to hold your hook
fast betwixt the fore-finger and thumb of your
left-hand, with the back of the shank upwards,
and the point towards your finger's end ; then
take a strong small silk of the colour of the fly
you intend to make, wax it well with wax of
the same colour, to which end you are always,
by the way, to have wax of all colours about
you* and draw it betwixt your finger and
thumb to the head of the shank ; and then
whip it. twice or thrice about the bare hook,
which, you must know, is done, both to prevent
slipping, and also that the shank of the hook
may not cut the hairs of your towght,t which
sometimes it will otherwise do. Which being

* Unnecessary trouble. Yonr silk being already ''of
the colour of the fly you intend to make," wants no addi-
tional colouring. The wax, which at the end of the chap-
ter we shall tell you how to make, being colourless and
transparent, will suit silks of every colour. It neither adds
to, lior takes from, their hue.

t Hair-link.

120

done^ take your line [link of gttt]^ and draw it
likewise between your finger and thumbs hold-
ing the hook so hst^ as only to suffer it to pass
by, until you have the knot of your towght al-
most to the middle of the shank of your hook,
on the inside of it ; then whip your silk twice
or thrice about both hook and line, as hard as
the strength of the silk will permit. Which
being done, strip the feather for the wings pro-
portionable to the bigness of your fly, placing
that side downwards which grew uppermost
before upon the back of the hook, leaving so
much only as to serve for the length of the
wing of the point of the plume lying reversed
from the end of the shank upwards ; then
whip your silk twice or thrice about the root-
end of the feather close by the arming ; and
then whip the silk fast and firm about the
hook and towght, until you come to the bend
of the hook, but not farther, as you do at
London, and so make a very unhandsome, and^
in plain English, a very unnatural and shape-
less fly.* Which being done, cut away the
end of your towght and fasten it. And then
take your dubbing, which is to make the body
of your fly, as much as you think convenient,
and holding it lightly, with your hook, betwixt

* Thig may hare been the case in Mr. Cotton's time*
but is not the case now — quite the contnffj.

121

the finger and thmoab of your left-band^ take
your silk with the rights and twisting it
betwixt the finger and thumb of that hand> the
dubbing will spin itself about the silk, which,
when it has done, whip it about the armed-
hook backward, till you cpme to the setting on
of the wings.* And then take the feather for
the wings, and divide it equally into two parts ;
then turn them back towards the bend of the
hook, the one on the one side^ and the other
on the other, of the shank, holding them fast
in that posture, betwixt the fore-finger and
thumb of your left-hand; and then take the
silk betwixt the finger and thumb of your rights
hand, and, where the warping ends, pinch or
nip it with your thumb-nail against your
finger, and strip away the remtunder of your
dubbing from the silk ; and then, with the bare
i^ilk, whip it once or twice about; make the
wings to stand in due order, fasten, and cut it
off. After which, with the point of a needle,

* The learner will perceive, that Mr. Cotton proceeds in
the same way as we do, as far as the setting on of the
wings ; but that afterwards he whips the silk along the
book as far as the bend ; then he twists on bis dabbing,'
retracing his steps towards the wings, and fastens and fin^
ishes at the point of the shank. In our method the fly is
fioisbed by the time Mr. C. begins to pot on his dubbiogy^
or before he has completed one half of his operations. Our
fly will of necessity be more delicate in shape, and wiH be
every tittle as solidly attached to the hook.

122

raise up the dubbing gently from the warp;
twitch off the superfluous hairs of your dubbing ;
leave the wings of an equal length — your fly
will never else swim true — and the work is
done."

All Mr. Cotton's directions for fly-dressing
are included in this extract, and they only
teach how to make the easiest of winged flies
— the fly with simple dubbing for body. See
our fourth Rule.

We have attentively studied the directions
for fly-making given by the foUowing author.
Rennie, Hansard, Best, Ronalds, Taylor, &c.
but we confess, that, to our comprehension^
they appear either so complicated, or so
obscure, as to prevent us from laying any
portion of them before our readers. Messrs.
Best and Ronalds are particularly elaborate ia
their instructions, how. to make the different
sorts of palmer-flies, but we question whether,
notwithstanding their minuteness, they have
succeeded in their praise-worthy intentions.
Bowlker's directions are a mere unacknow-
ledged condensation of those of Mr. Bainbridge,
but as we consider the latter gentleman the
best fly-dresser that has hitherto appeared in
the shape of an author, we shall copy his gen-
er,ai directions in full, in order that the reader
may compare them with ours.

123

«Mr. Bainbridge says, ^^ Whether a common
hackle, or a dubbed winged fly, is to be manu-
factured, it is invariably necessary to have the
whole of the materials which are to compose
the imitations properly adjusted, previous to
the commencement of the operation. First:
The hackles stripped, or divested of the soft
downy feathers which grow nearest the root,
and turned back ready for twisting on the hook.
Second: The gut carefully examined, and
tried by moderately pulling it, in proportion to
the weight expected to be held by it. This
precaution will frequently save the angler
much disappointment, by discovering defects
not apparent to the eye. Third : The dubbing
properly mixed to the exact colour of the body
of the natural fly, a small proportion of which
should be moistened, and held up to the light ;
for the camlets and furs, when wet, generally
become several shades darker than when in a
dry state, and in some instances assume a
totally different hue. Fourth : The silk well
waxed with a colour lighter than the body of
the fly ; and a hook cautiously tried as to tem-
per, and prudently selected as to size. Fifth :
The wings must be stripped from the feathers
by an even but sudden pull. Every thing being
thus in a state of readiness, the hook must be
first fastened to the finest end of the gut with

124

waxed silk, beginning (if for a hackle-fly only)
at the bend, and working towards the head of
the hook ; when, within about three turns of
which, the hackle must be fastened in, and
the winding of the silk continued until it
reaches the end of the shank. Having reached
this point, it must be turned again, as if to
retrace the same ground for two turns, which
will form the head of the fly.

^* The dubbing, if of fur or camlet, must now
be twisted round the silk, and wrapped on the
hook for nearly half the proposed length of the
body, when it may be festened by a single loop,
in order that both hands may be at liberty, for
the better management of the hackle. If the
body is to be composed of peacock, or ostrich
herl, it ought to be fastened on at the same
time with the hackle, so that it may be per-
fectly secure. Should the hackle be of tolera-
ble size, there will be no difficulty in twisting
it firmly on the hook, with the fingers only;
but if small, a pair of neat pliars, which close
together by a spring, will be found of great
utility, in winding the turns of the hackle close
under each other ; and, if pliars be wanting, a
piece of silk, fastened to the end of the feather,
will answer the purpose.

" When enough of the feather is wound upon
the hook, the remainder should be pressed

125

closely under the thumb of th^ left-hand^ and
the fibres which may be entangled picked out
by means of a needle. The silk^ with the dub*
bing^ must now be twisted over the end of the
hackle (with the left-thumb kept down)^ until
the body of the fly is of the length required,
taking care that it never proceeds beyond the
bend of the hook, which would give it an
unnatural appearance. A single loop will keep
the whole together, until the dubbing be pick-
ed out, and the hackle properly arranged, when
the fastening off must be effected, by making
three or four loose turns of the silk, at such a
distance from the hook, as to admit of the end
being passed under them.

*'The loose turns must then be wrapped
closely on the hook, and the end drawn tight,
which will so completely secure the fastening,
that, if neatly managed, it will be difficult to
discover where the fly has been finished. This
mode of fastening is called the ^invisible' knot.

^^ In making a winged fly, the same method
may be adopted with respect to whipping the
hook to the gut, as far as the fastening in the
hackle ; after which, instead of returning im-
mediately with the silk, in order to form the
head of the fly, the wings must be fastened
before the dubbing is wound. Some persons
fix the wings to the hook with the root nearest

126

the bend, and force the points or narrow ends
of the fibres back afterwards, making use of the
short remains of the roots to effect the division
of the wings. This method is, however,
tedious, and di£5cult to be understood by a
young practitioner.

" The most simple mode of proceeding is, to
fix the wings^ on the shank of the hook length-
wise, with the narrowest ends nearest the bend,
fastening them by three or four turns of the silk
above or nearest the head of the hook, and then
cutting the root-ends close with a small pair of
scissors; after which, the silk must be brought
below the wings, and the body twisted, for a
short distance, as in the hackle-fly.

" The hackle must be wound once round the
hook at the head, which will conceal the ends
of the cut fibres, and add greatly to the neatness
of the fly. If the wings are to be divided, they
may be separated equally by a needle, and the
hackle brought down between them, and wound
again round the hook four tui'ns below, where
the silk will be found in readiness to fasten it.**

These directions are entirely opposed to ours.
Bainbridge tells the learner to begin "at the
bend, and work towards the head of the hook;"
and we tell the learner to begin at the bead
of the hook, or near the end of the shank^ and
to work downward towards the bend. By fd^r

127

lowing Mr. Bainbridge's method the silk must
pass twice round and along the hook ; and his
directions for placing the wings are extremely
difficult to be put into practice. If properly
learned^ however, they will be found in the end
useful ; and dividing the wings by means of the
hackle-feather, is certainly an improvement.
Besides, he gives instructions to make only
three flies, namely, the hackle, the fly with
wings and dubbing, and the fly with wings,
dubbing, and hackle, and we have given eight
progressive rules for fly-dressing. In conclu-
sion, we will stake our existence, that if all the
information contained in this chapter be care-
fully read and digested, and afterwards pn^t
into practice for a few days, any man of mode-
rate comprehension, who has the use of his eyes
and fingers, will be able to tie on flies that
will kill trout and grayling in every stream of
the midland counties ; and if he be a judge of
the proper colours, we will warrant that flies
BO tied will catch the afore-mentioned fish in
whatever waters they are found of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

The following is the recipe for the only sort
of wax that ought ever to be used in fly-
dressing :

Take two ounces of the best and lightest-
coloured yellow resin, with one drachm of

128

bees-wax; put them into a pipkin on a slow
fire until completely dissolved ; let them sim-
mer for ten minutes. Then add a quarter of an
ounce of white pomatum^ and allow the whole
(constantly stirring it) to simmer for a quarter
of an hour longer. Pour the liquid into a
basin of clean cold water^ when the liquid will
instantly assume a thick consistency. In this
state/ and g while it is yet warm, work it by
pulling it through the fingers until it be cold.
This last operation is necessary to make the
wax tough, and to give it that silvery hue
which it has when made in perfection.

129

CHAPTER VII.

A CURIOUS CONTROVERSY SHARPLY COMMENCED,
AND, IT IS HOPED, SUCCESSFULLY CONCLUDED,

At a time when the spirit of innovation is
considered as a sure proof of talent, it is not
wonderful that a startling heresy should have
been broached with respect to some of the
most established doctrines of angling. The
modem possessors of genius — and in this
precocious age of ours they are many — disdain
in every art to wend their way along the old
and beaten roads, and will not condescend to
travel in the pursuit of knowledge, unless in
class 1st. of some rapid rail-road train. To
them our ancestors seem slow coaches in
every thing, and any thing that smells of rou-
tine strikes their nostrils with an odour quite
the reverse of savory. It seems, that since
the days of Charles Cotton — that is, for the
space of two goodly centuries — we, practised
anglers, have been plunged up to the neck and

ears in error. He thought it necessary, and

G 5

130

we routine fishers have adopted his opinion,
that, in dressing flies, as much care as possible
should be taken to imitate the particular fly
with an artificial representation of which he
meant to deceive and catch fish. Not only,
according to our modem scientific schismatics,
is this care quite unnecessary; but, though it
has been recommended and practised since
and before the time of Cotton, it never has as
yet succeeded. All the efforts of our prede-
cessors, and all the attentive studies of our-
selves, have served only to produce *^ pretended
imitation." So says a learned professor of
zoology — professor too in a metropolitan col-
lege — • but we hope he will excuse us if we do
not take for oracular all that is announced
from his professor's chair. We confess our-
selves rather obstinate in some cases — so
much so, indeed, that, unlearned as we are, we
cannot adopt as true mere assertions unaccom-
panied with proofs, though they emanate from
a professor of high degree, from a philosophical
contributor to the " Encyclopeedia Britannica,"
or from a score of smart, but, we some how or
other think, superficial writers of the steam-
engine school. We have, however, some pretty
good authorities on our side, and, if betting
were our cue, we could get three professors of
the ^^ routine" school backed to kill more trout

131

and grayling with artificial flies in a given time,
on the same rivers, than any six of the " pre-
tended-imitation" professors. They are to tie
on their own flies in accordance with their
theory, '^that it is quite unimportant to imitate
any species of living insect;" and we shall tie
on ours according to our doctrine, " that it is
all-important not only to imitate, as nearly as
art can, living insects, but also the different
species of those insects." Let not one of our
readers suppose for an instant, that we are
** obstructives" in the way of improvement and
useful innovation. Not so, by the disinterested
honour of an angler; but we are as cautious
conservators of the true principles of fly-fishing,
as the lord-mayor of London is of the Thames
from Richmond to the Medway. But let us
oppose to the assertions of the learned the ob-»
servations of the experienced.

Piscator, in Cotton, has, after minute in-
fstructions, tied on a fly, and says to his pupil.
Viator, " There's a fly made : and now, how do
you like it?" Viator answers, "In earnest,
admirably well; and it perfectly resembles a
fly/' Hereupon Mr. Professor Rennie makes
the following annotation : — r " If so, it is more
than ever I saw any angler's artificial flies do,
which, to use Shakspeare's term, imitate
Nature abominably ; but, though noways like

132

natural flies^ (and this is not^ it would appear^
of the slightest importance), they certainly
catch fish as if they were.'* In another note
on Cotton the learned professor observes^
^^ Both these extracts from Venahles are found-
ed upon the notion^ that the fish can discrimi-
nate the species of flies^ than which nothing
can be more unfounded, for the angler's flies
are not like any species." In another part of
his work Cotton says to his pupil, ^^ I am now
to tell you next how to make an artificial fly,
that will so perfectly resemble him [May-fly],

as to be taken in a rough windy day."

Whereupon the professor notes, " The resem-
blance is not much nearer, I should say, than
Hamlet's cloud to a camel, or a whale." Lest
this opinion contained in notes should escape
notice, Mr. Rennie, in an original work, puts it
more prominently forward, thus : — "It is still
more common, however, for anglers to use arti-
ficial baits, made in imitation, or pretended imi-
tation, of those that are natural. I have used
the phrase ^pretended imitation,' as strictly ap-
plicable to by far the greater number of what are
called by anglers ^ artificial flies,' because these
very rarely indeed bear the most distant resem-
blance to any living fly or insect whatever,
though, if exact imitation were an object, there
can be little doubt that it could be accomplished

133

much more perfectly than is ever done in any of
the numerous artificial fUes made by the best ar-:
tists in that line of work. The fish^ indeed^ ap-
pear to seize upon an artificial fly^ because^ when
drawn by the angler along the water, it has
the appearance of being a living insect, whose
species is quite unimportant, as all insects are
equally welcome, though the larger they are,
as in the case of grasshoppers, so much the
better, because they then furnish a better
mouthful. The aim of the angler, accordingly,
ought to be to have his artificial fly calculated,
by its form and colours, to attract the notice
of the fish, in which case he has a much greater
chance of success, than by making the greatest
efforts to imitate any particular species of fly."
Before we proceed any further, we beg ta
point out the manifest contradictions in this
one extract. First the professor says, that
** anglers' artificial flies, very rarely indeed,
bear the most distant resemblance to any living
Jly or insect whatever;** and in the very
next sentence he adds, "The fish, indeed,
appear to seize upon an artificial fly, because,
when drawn by the angler along the water,
it has the appearance of being a living insect."
We really cannot, for the life of us, under-
stand how an object which does not bear
the most distant resemblance to any living

^ I

134

fly or insect whatever, can, by the mere
motion given to it in drawing it along the
water, assume the appearance of being a living
insect. If mere motion had such a wonderful
effect, as that of changing a thing unlike to a
thing like, it would be the greatest waste of
time in the world, to sit down to dress and
dub hooks. Why the hooks themselves, if
such w€re the case, would be quite sufficient
for the ordinary purposes of fly-fishing.
Besides, it will be seen that the professor
again runs into a contradiction, when he says,
that the ^^aim of the angler, accordingly,
ought to be, to have his artificial fly calcu-
lated, by its form and coUrwrSy to attract the
notice of the fish." What, we will ask, in the
name of common sense, is the meaning of the
word "form," as it is here used ? Does it not
in some degree imply similarity ? What form
is to be used, we modestly ask the learned
professor, in order to attract the notice of
the fish? Is it the form of Hamlet's camel,
or whale, or the form of a water-fly? We
^^ pause for a reply." Now if it be the form of
any of the above creatures, the substance used
to give such form must produce resemblance,
at least, as to shape. What becomes now of
the professor's assertion, that an artificial fly
does not ^'bear the most distant resemblance

135

to any living fly or insect whatevicr?'' The
professor recommends the employment of
^^ colours to attract the notice of the fish."
Unhappily-chosen word! What things do
those great imitators of nature — the poet
and the painter — use ? Colours ! Do we
not say the colouring of that poem is good^
the colouring of that picture is bad. Why
good ? Beeause the colouring bears a resem-
blance to a certain appearance possessed by
the object intended to be depicted or imi-
tated. Why bad? For the very converse
reason, because there is lack of resemblance
in a particular appearance. Let us now ask
Mr. Professor Rennie what colours he recom-
mends. Undoubtedly he will recommend
some particular ones. Will he say that they
are colours unlike those presented to the eye
on the bodies and their members of water-flies?
If he do, he will be inconsistent. Will he say
that they are to be colours like those pre-
sented to the sight by the bodies, &c. of
water-flies ? If he do, he will still be incon-
sistent with himself. He has got completely
between a cleft stick, and nothing but an
honest recantation of his heresy will get him
out of it. But we hope he will tell us the
peculiar colours that are to be used to draw
fish to them. It may be said, that, when this-

136

learned professor used the words ^^ living
insects/' he did so advisedly -^ that he meant
dead insects. Not at all* He has not got even
that loop-rhole out of which to escape^ since
he afterwards says, that « fish appear to seize
upon an artificial fly^ because^ when drawn by
the angler along the water^ it has the appear^
ance of a living insect." Now the whole
truth of the matter is^ that the pro&ssor^
great observer of nature and its creations as
he unquestionably is, could have no exact
means of forming a decisive opinion on this
subject. Has he ever balanced himself
beneath the water, and observed, with the eye
of a fish, the similarity or the dissimilarity
that exists between a natural and an arti-
ficial fly ? Impossible, for two reasons ; firsts
because he could never place himself in the
position required to make the observation with
the necessary accuracy ; secondly, if he did so
place himself, he could not see with the eye of
a fish. At least, so we routine teachers of the
art of artificial-fly making opine.

Before we come to the authorities about to
be cited by each party relative to the question
in dispute, we have a few words to say on the
three assertions contained in the following
quotation : — " It [an artiHcial fly] has the
appearance of being a living insect^ whose

137

species is quite unimportant^ as all insects are
equally welcome, though the larger they are,
as in the case of grasshoppers, so much the
better, because they then furnish a better
mouthful." First, as to species. The dun-
drake, or March-brown, is of the genus baetis,
and appears, according to the locality of rivers,
earlier or later in them, in the month of
Mai'ch. As soon as it appears, it is eagerly
devoured by trout. In about four days it
becomes the great red-spinner, that is, another
species of the dun-drake, which continues
on the water longer than the latter fly. Before
the dun-drake appears, no fish will take the
red-spinner, and generally when the longer-
lived latter fly is taken, the dun-drake is
refused. Here fish make a striking distinc-
tion between species i and in proving that they
do, we also prove how necessary it is to
imit€^te them artificially. Moreover, they are
©f the same size, but their colour is widely
different; consequently, diflferent coloured mate-
rials must be used in dressing them. Secondly,
as to the assertion, that all insects are equally
welcome ; is the common hive-bee at any time
equally welcome with the May-fly ? And, third-
ly, as to size ; is the May-fly at all times equally
as welcome to fisl^ as the wren-fly, one con-
siderably smaller ? Mr. Rennie cannot answer

I ^

138

these two latter questions in the affirmative^
for every man that ever fished knows that
while the May-fly is on the water trout will
take no insect so willingly^ no matter what it
may be ; and that^ in the latter months of the
summer, trout will not take the May-fly at all,
whilst 'they will avidiously devour the diminu*^
tive wren-fly. Those three assertions, then,
are reduced to their proper value.

We come now to authorities. The learned
professor, in support of his ** pretended-imita*
tion" heresy, says, " It tends strongly to corrob-
orate our principle [to wit, the aforesaid heresy],
that Bainbridge, who is the best authority on
the species of flies, expressly says, respecting a
gaudy artificial fly for salmon, that, ' However
fanciful, or varied in shade or materials, it will
frequently raise fish, when all the imitations of
nature have proved unsuccessful ; indeed so fas-
tidious and whimsical are the salmon at times,
that the more brilliant and extravagant the fly,
more certain is the angler of diversion.' " We
have placed certain words in the above passage
in italics, that the professor may the better un-
derstand it when he reads it again. What ! does
the professor teach to his classes, that an ex-
ception to a general rule, is the corroboration of
a principle ? Mr. Bainbridge simply says — at
Least such is the way we interpret the passage—

139

that at certain extraordinary times^'when imi-
tations of nature do not succeed^ salmon are
ilien caught with gaudy flies ; and that at such
times salmon are so fastidious and whimsical,
that is, when they forget their ordinary natural
gouty and lose their ordinary plain sense, they
become enamoured of an extravagant sort of fly.
Because one dog or one horse will soihetiines eat
an orange, is that a proof, or a coiToboration of
a proof, that dogs or horses are frugiverous?
Because a man happens once, twice, or ten times
a year, to get intoxicated, and whilst in that
state is whimsical enough to prefer a brick-bat
to a loaf of bread, is that a proof that he likes
the former better or as well as the latter ? Sal-
mon do no more when they prefer a gaudy or
extravagantly-dressed fly, and Mr. Bainbridge
does not say they do. Now to further prove
that Mr. Bainbridge is talking only of an excep-
tion, and not laying down a principle, and that
he would be very sorry to teach any such dan-
gerous doctrine as that professed by Mr. Ren-
nie, we will proceed to quote him in our favour.
Mr. Bainbridge recommends five flies for sal-
mon-fishing, only one of which is to be gaudy ;
one is to be of colours of a sombre cast; another
is to be so plainly dressed, that it is called the
quaker fly; another is to be dressed with wings
made of the dark-mottled brown or llcickisli fea-

140

ther of a tnirkey^ and a' body of orange camlet
mixed with mohair, the legs of the fly to be a
dusky red or bright brown cock's hackle; and
another is to represent the common wasp. It
therefore, appears, that of five flies with which
salmon are caught, there is but one gaudy one^
and Mr. Bainbridge, placing this said gaudy fly
fourth in his list, shows that he prefers at least
three others to it. Consequently, we have three
chances to one against the fly that is supposed
not to be an imitation of a natural fly. The
fifth fly for salmon-fishing, recommended by
Mr. Bainbridge, is an imitation of the commoa
wasp. He says that it is *^a favourite with the
salmon peal, mort, or gilse ; and well-grown fish
will sometimes rise at this fly in preference to
any otherP Here, therefore, is a fourth com-
petitor to the unnatural representation, and we
could bring many more if we chose to consult
other authors than Bainbridge. We wish to
beat the learned professor with his own arms;
and, consequently, having proved that he mis-
understood the di*ift of Bainbridge's observa-
tions, relative to the gaudy salmon-fly, we will
show how anxious that author is, that thewater-
fiies which trout and grayling take should be
exactly imitated. Mr. Bainbridge says, " Al-
though the imitation of nature is the prin^kpal
object to be desired by the fly-maker, yet, in

141

some instances, it will be advisable to enlarge
or diminish the proportions of the artificial fly;
as the state of the water may require.'^ To be
sure ; in order, that to the fish the imitation
may be the more precise. The imitation of
nature is the rule — the deviation from it, or the
use of a gaudy fly, the exception.

Mr. Professor Rennie quotes Sir H. Davy
in corroboration of his principle. The follow-
ing is the passage : ^^ / imaginey^ says Sir H.
Davy, ^^ salmon take the gaudy fly, with its
blue kingfisher and golden pheasant's feathers,
for a small ^A ; I never saw a dragon-fly drop
on the water or taken by a fish." Sir H. Davy
gives no decided opinion ; he simply imaffmes,
that the gaudy fly is taken for the represen-
tation of a small ^h. It, therefore, is not a
<^ pretended imitation." But what says Mr.
Bainbridge, the learned professor's ^^best
authority on the species of flies," in reference
to this very point. That gentleman says, " The
most successful bait [for salmon] which can be
used is, the artificial fly. Those made in imita-
turn of the drctgon flies are the most to be de-
pended upon, as these insects are constantly
hovering over the water, consequently, are more
familiar to the view of the fish." Sir H. Davy
says he never saw ^^ a dragon-fly drop on the
water or taken by a fish." , But if " dragon-

142

flies are constantly kavering over the water/' is
it not natural to suppose, that wh^x the imita-
tion of them drops on the water, the fish take
it, since they are pleased to get near them,
and within easy reach that which they suppose
represents an object '^familiar to the view?'
In no part of Sir H. Davy's work do we find
the ** pretended-imitation" principle in any way
favoured. On the contrary, we often find such
passages as the following : ^^ The true fisher-
man's flies, those imiiated in our art, &c." Mr.
Alfired Ronalds, who certainly is not a routine
fly-fisher, but rather of the innovating school,
says, after giving a reason for a trout taking a
nofi'descript artificial fly, that ^^itfiirnishes no
plea to quacks and bunglers, who, inventing, or
espousing, a new theory, whereby to hide their
ftant of skilly or spare their pains^ would kill all
the fish with one fly, as some doctors would
cure all diseases by one pill. If a trout rejects
the brown hive-bee at the time that he gree-
dily swallows the March-brown fly, it is clear
that the imitation should be as €a:act as possible
of the last, and as dissimilar as possible to the
first." In another passage of the same author
Mr. Professor Rennie's heresy is thus combat-
ted : — ^* It should never be forgotten, that, let
the state of the weather, or the water (in respect
of clearness), be what it may, success in fly*

143

fishing very much depends upon showing the
fish a good imitation^ both in colour and size,
of that insect which he has taken last." Mr.
Taylor, who calls his work, " Angling reduced
to a complete science/^ and must not, therefore,
be considered a ** routine" fisher, after giving
very minute directions how to dress a fly, con-
cludes by saying, ** The head being then nice-
ly completed, the fly will be most natural and
beautiful." Again, the same author, with much
of sound sense — but which is in direct oppo-
sition to the learned professor's theory — re-
marks, that ^^ as you cannot keep the artificial
flies to sit on the sm*face of the water, as some
of the natural ones do, they are taken for those
that are driven under by the current, which
makes the fish more eager in taking them, for
fear they should recover and get away." In
another passage Mr. Taylor makes the following
excellent observations, which decidedly militate
against the heretical principle of professor
Rennie: — "When you go out a fly-fishing, you
should not forget to have with you a little of
all your different materials for fly-making ; for
the fishes are sometimes so whimsical, that you
may see them take insignificant flies freely,
which at other times they would not look at.
When this is the case, catch one of such flies,
and try how far art can imitate nature^ by

ii4

milking one aa nearly similar as you can.'^

Bestji who by many is considered a good

fkutbority, remarks, " The imitations of naturef

in regard to the flies necesi^ary for use ; suiting

the different colours so eivactly as to resemble

the natural fly; and observing the greatest

nicety in regard to its symmetry, contribute to

make it. [the art of fly-fishing] still more

delightful. Whenever he [the fly-fisher] makes

a fly, let him have the natural one alu>ays before

him, which will enable him to be a competent

judge of the materials most necessary tx> dub it

with/' . Mr. Haijsard, an .angler ojf extensive

experience, advises you, '^ If you make any fliea

while out, to catch the natural fly,, and, seated

on your basket. in some sheltered comer, to

try your skill. Always take a few of the real

flies home to be copied during unfavonral>le

weather."

We have thought it absolutely necessary to
write this chapter, for unless we disproved the
theory of professor Rennie, and we flatter our-
selves that we have triumphantly done so, all
the instructions, given with such elaborate
minuteness in the preceding chapter, would
be so much loss of time, and, what is worse,
would be tending to propagate false doctrines.
The same observation applies to the chapter
that will succeed this. It is scarcely necessary

145

to add, that it is our own unshaken and sincere
opinioD, that artificial flies, when in the water,
are like either the living or dead insects which
fish prey upon. The closer the imitation, the
surer the success of the angler.

146

CHAPTER VIII.

FLIES FOR EVERY MONTH IN THE YEAR.

This chapter will be a very long one, but it
will be the most important, at least so we
think, in the whole work. The list of flies we
give is numerous — perhaps too much so —
but there is not one that will not kill fish more
or less in proper time and place. All those
flies are dressed according to our father's
method, and we believe we may add, that he
was the most successful fly-fisher that appear-
ed on the Dove during the last fifty years.
We have tried — and seen tried — other flies in
competition with them, and we frankly declare,
that we have never known them equalled.*
They will kill trout and grayling in every
stream of the midland counties, and, we dare
assert, in every river in the empire where those
fish are to be found. The angler has only to
Vary their size according to the size of the flies

* If any person chooses to try London-dressed flies, the
best are those made and sold by Messrs. Bowness and Che-
valier, 12, Bell Yard, Temple Bar, London.

147

that are bred on the different English streams.
And be it remarked^ that the smaller and more
shaded the river, stream, or brook, the larger
the fly. On wide and slightly-sheltered rivers,
the flies are small. As a general rule, use for
the Dove flies tied on No. 2 Kendal hook;
for the smaller and warmer streams of Der-
byshire and Staffordshire, flies dressed on
No. 3 Kendal hook. Many strangers, cele-
brated fly-flshers, and particularly the late Sir
Humphrey Davy, invariably used our flies in
preference to all others when they came to fish
on the Dove and the streams adjacent to it.
It was Sir Humphrey Davy, when once on a
visit to the hospitable owner of Ham Hall,
that suggested to our father, who always
accompanied him in his fly-fishing excursions,
the necessity of writing such a work as the
present. In fact, so anxious was Sir Hum-
phrey to have the result of our father's expe-
rience copimunicated to the public, that he
volunteered the aid of his literary talents, to.
forward such an undertaking. Though the
task has fiiUen to be executed by less able hands,
still if zeal and industry can supply the place
of talent and celebrity, the public will not have
to regret much that Sir Humphrey Davy was
not the compiler of this Treatise. Now to
our list of flies.

148

JANUARY.*

Red-brown Fly: — The body of this fly is
to be dubbed with dark-brown mohair. The
wings are to be made of the feather from a
starling or dotterel's wing. It is to be tied on
or dressed with red silk. Will kill from eleven
to three o'clock.!

Blue Dun : — The body J of this fly is to be

* We confess we begin the fly-fishing season rather early,
but we do SO) that the enthusiast in the art may not want
instructions for any month of the year. Flies are to be
found on the water in the coldest months of the year.
<< Even,*' Sir H. Davy says, *^ in December and January,
there are a few small gnats or water-flies on the water in
the middle of the day, in bright days, or when there is sun-
shine." We caught ourselves this year, on the 19th of
February, in the midst of the snow and frost, two fish, a
grayling and a trout, and we did not endeavour to catch
any more, for we simply wanted a single specimen of each
fish as a model for our artist to design after. The g^yling
was caught with a dark-blue-dun hackle, and the trout
with the common furnace hackle. They weighed each
exactly one pound.

t With this fly our father caught early one day in Janu-
ary on the Dove, between Norbury Weir and Dove Leys,
thirteen grayling and five trout. Four of the grayling
weighed two pounds each. The fish were taken between
half-past eleven and two o'clock.

Whenever we do not mention what sized hook a fly is to
be dressed upon, it must be understood that we mean a
No. 2 Kendal.

X The silk with which the fly is dressed, is often sufficient
to form the body of 9. slender fly. We shall often, there-

149

formed of the straw-coloured silk, with which
it is dressed. A blue-dun cock's hackle for
legs, to be wound round the hook under the
wings three times. The wings from the feather
of an old* starling's wing.

This fly must be made rather full in the
body, and in the winter months, and when the
water is high, it must be dressed on a No. 3
Kendal hook. It may with safety be account-
ed a standard fly.

Light-blue Dun : — The body to be of green-
ish-yellow silk ; legs, a soft hackle-feather of
a light-blue-dun colour, to be wound round the
hook close to the wings four times, and in a way
that the silk may be clearly discerned. Wings,
the feather of an old starling, f

fore, use the expresBions, " body to be of saeh and sach
coloured silk,*' which means nothing more, than that the
fly is to be dressed with silk of the colour indicated.

* For flies with dark bodies use generally the feathers of
an old starling ; for those, the bodies of which arc of lighter
hue, use the feathers of the young starling taken from the
nest when nearly full fledged. Note, also, that the wings
of flies are generally made from the feather of the wing of
the bird recommended for such purpose.

t This fly is an excellent one for g^yling during the cold
months, whether in the beginning or the latter end of the
year. From January to April it should be dressed on a
"No. 3 Kendal, when the water is low on a No. 2. The
water makes the silk body appear entirely green.

150

Golden Ostrich, or Golden Patmer-Jly : —
The body^ a black-ostrich berl ribbed with
gold-twist ; a dark-red cock's hackle for legs.
To be dressed sometimes with orange^ some-
times with puce-colottred silk. A famous fly
for grayling. Hook, Kendal No. 3. Will
kill all day long.

Esterhazy Dun: — Bright Esterhazy-colour-
ed silk for body; blue-dun hackle for legs;
wings, from the feather of the fieldfare's wing.
An extremely killing fly on a cold windy
day, from half-past ten to three o'clock.

Peacock Fly : — Peacock herl for body ; a
bluish-dun hackle for legs. To be dressed
with gi'eenish Pomona silk.

Let us here remind the reader, that the flies
that will kill in the beginning of the year, will
q,lso kill at the latter end. Thus, then, the
flies that are taken in January, Febraary, and
March, will also be taken in November, Octo-
ber, and September ; making the months cor-
respond in the way we have written them
down.

FEBRUARY.

The flies that we recommended for last
month will be found serviceable in the begin-

151

mag, and frequently throughout the whole of
this month.

Dark Dun: — Body of dark-plum-coloured
silk; legs, a blue-dun hackle-feather; wings,
of the feather of a fieldfare. This fly kills
well in all the cold months.

Plain Palmer : — Black-ostrich herl for
body ; over that a red cock's hackle for legs.
To be dressed with red silk. Hook, Kendal
No. 3.

JRed Fly : — Body, dark-red dubbing, to be
chosen from the hair found in tan-yards ; cock's
hackle of the same colour for legs. To be
dressed with orange-coloured silk. Wings, a
starling's feather, or if you wish to be still more
exact, the dun covert feather of a mallard's
wing. A good grayling fly, and it will kill both
in March and April.

Another Blue Dun: — A very small portion
of the water-rat's fur, spun round yellow silk
for body. A blue-dun hackle for legs. Wings,
from the feather of a starling. There cannot
possibly be a more killing fly than this during
all the cold months.

Red Dun : — Esterhazy-coloured silk for

152

tody; reddish-dun hackle for legs. Wings,
from the feather of the fieldfare.

Furnace Fly : — Body, orange-coloured silk ;
legs, cock's furnace hackle.* Wings, a field-
fare's feather. A standard fly, killing well all
the year through.

MARCH.

The same description of flies, but di*essed of
a smaller size, that were recommended for
last month, will be taken in this.

Another Blue Dun: — A small quantity of
water-rat's fur, twisted round straw-coloured
silk for body; a blue-dun cock's hackle for
legs. Wings, of the light fibres from the
feather of a fieldfare's wing. This fly kills
well on cold windy mornings.

Dark'claret Fly : — Body, deep-claret- co-
loured silk ; legs, a cock's dark-red hackle ;
wings, from the feather out of the wing of the
land-rail.

* The furnace hackle is a dark red, having a black streak
running from the root of the stem, on each side of it, up
the middle of the feather. The extremities of the fibres on
each side of the feather are likewise black. The more
purely dark the red part of the feather is the better— it
should be red through and through.

153

? ' Another Dark Dun : — Esterhazy silk for
body ; blue-dun hackle for legs ; wings^ of the
feather of a starling.

Winter Broum: — Body, puce-coloured silk;
legs, a dark furnace hackle; wings, from the

feather of a fieldfare.

The March Brotvny or Dun-drake: — This
fly is so important a one, that we feel bound
to give, in conjunction with our own informa-
tion, that of others respecting it. We are
writing on the twentieth of March, and we
desire the reader to bear in mind the lateness
and the coldness of the season. On Friday last,
the sixteenth, we took a stroll to the Dove.
The morning promised fair, and though the
river was dashed, and by two feet of water too
fiiU, we expected a tolerable day's sport. Just
as we began to fish, there came on a mingled
storm of wind, rain, and hail. Notwithstand-
ing, we resolved, for a moment, to " bide the
pelting of the pitiless storm," and in less than
ten minutes we caught, with this fly, three
trout and one grayling, each within five yards
of the other. There was nol a single natural
fly visible on the water, and each of the fish
weighed upwards of a pound. One of the
trout would have weighed more than two

H 5

154

pounds^ had it been in fiill season. On the
23rd of March, 1836, we killed, with this fly,
from one and the same standing, sixteen trout
and one grayling. We fished with two flies of
this sort on our casting-line at the same time,
and we caught three times, successively, two
fish at a cast. We should have caught many
more, were it not for an accident that
occurred to our tackle, for before we could
repair the damage caused by it, rising time
. was over. From the middle of March, to the
middle of April, it is decidedly the best and
most killing fly that can be fished with. We
recommend the angler to fish with two flies of
this sort on his casting-line at the same time>
one ribbed with gold-twist, and the other
without. The best time of fishing with this
fly is, between the hours of eleven and three
o'clock, especially if the water is curled by
a smart breeze.

We dress this fly as follows : Body, orange-
coloured silk, or deep-straw-colout, on which
wind for dubbing the fox-coloured fur taken
from a hare's poll ; legs, a honey-dun hackle ;
'wings, the top of the light or inner fibres strip-
ped from the feather of the hen pheasant's
wing. Rib with gold-twist for your tail-fly ;
let your dropper, when you use one, be without
any twist.

155

Mr. Bainbridge's way of dressing this fly : —
The wings are made from the dark-mottled
feather from the tail of a partridge^ or mottled
feather from the ptarmigan^ in its smnmer
plumage; the body/ of the fur from the hare's
ear^ intermixed with a small portion of
yellow worsted, well dubbed together ; a griz-
zled hackle for legs; and, if the imitator choose
to be exact, two fibres, from the same feather
which composed the wings, will enable him to
form the tail.*

Mr. Ronalds* s method : — Body, fur of the
hare's fece ribbed over with olive silk, and tied
with brown; tail, two stands of a partridge's
feather ; wings, feather of the pheasant's wing,
which may be found of the exact shade ; legs^
a feather from the back of a partridge.

Besfs way : — Wings are made of the feather
of the pheasant's wing, which is fiill of fine
shade, and exactly resembles the wing of the
fly; the body is made of the bright part of

* The learner will have already observed, that we dress
our flies without tails. They are of no use, and Mr. Bain-
bHdge properly says of them, '* This appendage to the flies
in their natural state, need not be attended to in the arti-
ficial formation, as it is of little importance in aiding the
success of the angler, although, if flies are dressed for sale,
it improves their appearance, and renders them more
showy and attractive."

156

hare's fur^ mixed with a little of the red part of
squirrel's fur, ribbed with yellow silk, .and a
partridge's hackle wrapped over twice or thrice
under the but of the wing,

Mr. Hansard's mode: — The wings and
whisks at the tail may be made from the spot-
ted tail-feathers of a young partridge. For the
body, use the dark fur which has yellow tips
from a hare's ear, and tie it on with reddish-buff
silk ; if you are inclined to use a hackle for legs,
let it be a dun cock's, or a small partridge's fea-
ther. As the fly grows lighter, alter the body,
and use the yellow buff fiir from a hare's ear,
tied with pale yellow ; and let the hackle be a
light dun with yellow edges, or a dull ginger
one.

Commendations of this Fly : — Mr. Bain-
bridge says, " This very excellent fly generally
appears about the middle of March, and is
strongly recommended as a good killer from
eleven until three o'clock." Best says, " There
cannot be too much said in commendation of
this fly, both for its duration, and the sport it
affords the angler." Bowlker says, " This fly
may be used with great success in warm
gloomy days; and when the brown fly is on
the water, the fish will refuse all other kinds.".

157

We can bear ample testimony to the truth of
these eulogistic observations.

March'brotjim Dun-fly : — Body, hare's fur
from the back of the neck, twisted round
primrose-coloured silk; legs, a brownish-dun
hackle ; and wings from a hen pheasant's wing-
feather.

APRIL.

Orange Dun : — Body, orange-coloured silk ;
legs, a blue-dun hackle ; wings, a fieldfare's
wing-feather.

CoW'dung Fly : — Body, yellow lamb's-wool,
mixed with a little brown mohair ; legs, ginger-
coloured hackle ; wings, from the wing-feather
of a land-rail. To be dressed with orange-
coloured silk. This is a killing fly on windy
days, and on them only.

The Golden and Plain Palmer flies are to be
used this month, tied on a No. 2 Kendal hook.

The Grannanty or Green-tail: — This fly
comes in about the middle of April, and lasts
three weeks or thereabouts. On warm days it
is a good fly during the morning and evening,
when no brown flies are on the water. ^^It

158

derives the name of green-taU^^ says Bain*
bridge^ '^&om a. bunch of eggs, of a green
colour, which drop on the water at the moment
of the fly's touching that element" The body
is made of the dark fur from a hare's ear, mixed
with a small portion of blue fiir; the tail is
made of the green herl taken from the eye of a
peacock's feather; the legs, a pale-ginger hac*
kle ; and the wings, of a hen pheasant's feather.

Light'blue Dun: — This fly is to be dressed
exactly like that of the same colour recom-
mended for January, except that the hook
must be a No. 2 Kendal.

Yellow Dun : — Body, yellow silk ; legs, a
yellow-dun hackle ; and wings from a feather
of the red-wing.

Stone Fly : — Body of the fur from the dark
part of a hare's ear mixed with a little brown
and yellow mohair, and ribbed over with yellow
silk rather closely towards the tail; legs, a
dark-grizzled cock's hackle of great length;
wings, which must lie flat upon the body and
not be longer, or at least very little longer^
than the body, to be made of the dark-mottled
feather of a hen pheasant or pea-hen; tail^ two
rabbit's whiskers. This fly is in season from

159

the beginning of April until the middle of
June, and is a killing fly early and late in rough
streams^ and in pools during a strong wind.
Hook, No. 4 Kendal.

Sand Fly : — Body, from the far off the hare's
poll ; legs, a ginger or light-red hackle ; wings,
from the feather of the land-rail's wing. To
be dressed with bright-orange-coloured silk on
a No. 3 Kendal hook.

This is a first-rate fly, and is jtistly a great
favourite with anglers, since it will kill well for
at least three successive months, namely, April,
May, and June. It may be used all day long.
On account of the importance we attach to this
fly, we think it necessary to bring to the aid of
our favourable testimony the praises of other
fly-fishers. Mr. Bainbridge says, " This may
be considered as one of the best.flies for afford-
ing diversion which can possibly be selected ;
for it may be used successfully, at all hours of
the day, from April to the end of September,
and is equally alluring to trout and grayling."
Mr. Ronalds observes, *^My own experience
leads me to recommend the use of it during
April and May, on days when there is no
abundance of any particular insect on the
water."

160

MAY.

Spider Fly : — Lead-coloured silk for body ;
for legs^ a wood-cock's hackle^ wrapped three
or four times roimd the hook.

Lest some of our readers may think this
mode of dressing this fly too simple^ we give
the way recommended by Mr. Ronalds: —
Body, dark-dun, or lead-coloured silk thread
dressed very fine; wings, from the underside of
a feather of the wood-cock's wing; legs, a
black cock's hackle rather long, wound twice,
only round the body.

Iron Blue: — Body of the blue fiir of the
water-rat or monkey, warped on with purple
silk, and afterwards neatly picked out. Wings,
from a tom-tit's tail. An excellent fly.

Another Dark Dun : — Body, a small quan-
tity of the blue fur of a water-rat warped on
with yellow silk; legs, a blue-dun hackle;
wings, of the feather from under the water-hen's
wing. If delicately dressed, a very killing fly.

Another sort of Palmer : — Body, brown pea-
cock's herl ; legs, a dark-red hackle. To be
dressed with red silk.

161

' ' Little Yellow May-Jly:-^ Body of yellow
silk; legs^ a light-ginger hackle; wings^ a
£eldfare's feather stained yellow.

Anotlier way : — Body, yellow monkey's fur ;
wings, from the feather, of a dotterel's wing.
To be dressed with lemon-coloured silk. Both
these little flies are capital killers.

Silver-tunst Hctckle : — Body, of a black-
ostrich herl, ribbed with silver- twist; legs, a
black cock's hackle. To be dressed with puce-
coloured silk.

Fern Fly : — Body, the brown fur from a
fox's breast ; legs, a pale-dun hackle ; wings,
of the palest fibres from the feather of a
thrush's wing. To be dressed with orange-
coloured silk. A killing fly for grayling.

JUNE.

The Green-drakey or May-fly : * — The
reason we place this celebrated fly in our list

* The following is a condensed history of this *' delicate
and fragile creature, this emblem of human life, this being
of a day." The ephemera, or May-fly, undergoes the same
number of metamorphoses as the rest of insects. As a
worm and nymph it is an inhabitant of the waters, where
it acquires its growth so slowly, that, with regard to the
length of these portions of its life, it has been at least as

162

for June is^ that it is not in full season on the
Dove^ in the vicinity of Ashbome, until about
the 4th of this month. In the smaller
streams in the neighbourhood, particularly
tiiose that are most shaded from cold winds;
it appears a week earlier. In the vicinity of
Bakewell it appears a fortnight sooner ; and
on the Dove, near Rocester and Calwich, it
appears, generally, in the last week of May.
^* Its season," remarks Mr. Ronalds, ^^ depends
greatly upon the state of the weather ; and it
will be found earlier upon the slowly-running
parts of the stream (such as mill-dams) than

well treated as the rest of insects. Swammerdam asseitSy
that the ephemeriB eontinae two or three years in their
larva and pupa states ; and that it is only when they hava
attained to the utmost perfection of which their organisation
is susceptible, that they so speedily perish. Some of these
worms pass their lives in habitations, each one in his own*
This is nothing but a hole formed in the bed of a river ;
others, on the contrary, may be termed wanderers ; and
they are sometimes seen to swim, sometimes to walk on tlie
Tarions substances found in the water, and sometimes they
remain tranquil and concealed under a stone. Their habi-
tations are always made in a soft soil ; but should necessity
force the insect to provide a habitation in a coarser soil, it
takes especial care to protect its tender body by Kning the
inside of its dwelling with fine earth. As the entrances to
its dwelling are situated below the surface of the water, the
insect is surrounded by the element, and lives for two yean
in .perfect security within its retreat. With this, as with
many other insects, its house not only shelters bat feed*
it ; for it is easy to perceive through its transparent ImkIv,
that its intestines are filled with the same earth in which it
has constructed its dwelling : it is probable, that the soU it

163

on ntpid places." What Cotton says about
the 'season of this fly, may be taken as a
general rule, ''The green*drake comes in about
tiie 20th of May, or betwixt that and the
laJtter end, (for they are sometimes sooner^
and sometimes later, according to the quality
of tiie year), but never well taken till towards
the end of this month, and the beginning
of June," Mr. Hansard observes, "The
green-drake is in season from the 20th of May
till the 20th of June, but it is most plentiM jtfst
at the end of the one month and the beginning
of the next; a dry season and low water is

impregnated witb tome nutiitioos substance which the
fnsect*s organisation appropriates. After having sojourtiecl
within these dens for nearly two years, and ehanged them
as often as its increase of bulk demanded a more spacious
lodgment, the insect undergoes those transformations
which permit it to enjoy in atiother element a momentary
existence. Nevertheless, short as this term of life is, the
Insects are surrounded at the very threshold of their new
existence with the most imminent peril. The transforms*
Hon which is to convert the aquatic into the aerial being, is
attended with all those risks which we have seen attend the
gnat: the ephemera is at the mercy of a gust of air; if
once thrown off its balance while endeavouring to extricate
itself from its larval skin, it is lost for ever; for it has no-
thing to dread so much as the element in which it has lived
so long. When, however, the insects have once become
fitted for their new mode of life, they burst at sunset from
the banks of the river which they have inhabited in incre-
dible numbers. It is thus that these creatures burst forth
from the waters : it would appear, however, that though
the time of the year in which they become aerial beings
differs in different countries, yet the insects of the same

164

most favourable for this fly^ which may be used
from eight o'clock in the moming till siK in
the evenings and when they are abundant no
other fly will be taken." The artificial green-
drake is generally dressed on too large a scale,
which is the principal reason that many persons
do not think it a killing fly. It should never
be dressed on a hook larger than No. 9 Red-
ditch, or a No. 3 Kendal; but the latter hook,
unless ordered expressly for the purpose, is too
short in the shank. It is of little use to fish
with the artificial green-drake, unless there be
a strong wind curling the water, and when such

coantry appear at the very same time each year ; nay, far-
ther, the very hour of the day at which they should rise
from the water into the air is fixed to such a nicety> that in
each succeeding day these swarms of insects come forth at
the precise instant at which they had appeared the prece-
ding day. No insect executes' an operation (that of casting
its larval skin) at once so important and laborious, wit^
eqnal celerity. We do not draw our arms from the sleeves
of a coat more quickly, than the ephemera extricates its
body, wings, legs, and the long caudal appendages, from a
sheath in which these various parts are folded and cramped
np. We could hardly expect that an insect which, when
perfqict, is so frail and delicate, could exert, in its imperfect
state, so much force as the act of getting rid of its larval
skin appears to demand. It would seem, however, that the
address and strength necessary to effect its emancipation,
is supplied at the moment of need by a power independent
of the will of the insect. Swammerdam's experiments
prove, that every part of the body of the insect is in itself
capable of its full developement. He detached a^wing still
inclosed within its larval skin ; it immediately unfolded
itself, and attained all the natural dimensions which it

165

has been the case^ we have frequently found the
artificial fly taken in preference to the natural
one. The. time of the day to fish with it is,
from eleven to four o'clock. This fly is dressed
as follows :

Body of an ostrich herl died a straw colour,
and ribbed with gold-twist; legs, a ginger
hackle; wings, a mallard's feather from the
side under the wing, died a dingy yellow
colour; two whips of a brown peacock's herl
between the wings and the shank of the hook,
to form the head of the fly.

would have acquired had it stiU remained in its natural
situation, commanicating with the vessela of the hody.
R^aumer crashed the head of these creatures while in the
very act of transformation, nevertheless the metamorphosis
was performed with the same celerity as if the cruelty had
not been practised. Neither did immersion in spirits of
wine prevent the completion of the change. The insect
burst through its trammels, and instantly perished. The
females of the ephemera seem to be born only to perpetuate
their species, and, accordingly, as soon as they can use
their wings, so soon they begin to lay their eggs ; a crea-
ture, whose life in a perfect state is comprised in a few
hours, cannot afford to waste the precious moments ; na-
ture, therefore, has foreseen and contrived, that her object
stiould be thoroughly attained in the shortest time. They
lay about eight hundred eggs, nevertheless they are depo-
sited in a shorter time than another insect would consume
in laying only one. Natare has crowded into their short
life an operation to which other insects are not subjected.
After they have gone through the ordinary metamorphoses
common t6 most insects, and when they are apparently
perfect insects, they again cast their skins, and change a
yestment which has scarcely time to become old.

Abridged from the 6Ut Number of the Family Library.

166

The following is a proper recipe to die the
mallard's feather of the colour required. Cat
into minute slices a small quantity of the inner
bark of the barberry tree^ add a piece of aluxu
about the size of a small walnut^ then boil the
whole for ten minutes in a pint of rain or soft
water. Immerse, for a minute, your feathers
in the boiling liquid; take them out and wash
them in clean water, and afterwards expose
them for two hours to the action of the heat of
the sun.

Grey Drake: — Body, puce-coloured silk
ribbed with silver-twist; legs, a dark-blue-
dun hackle; wings, a sooty-grey mallard or
widgeon's feather. Hook, No. 9 Redditch.

On this fly Mr. Ronalds's remarks are so
apposite, that we will confine ourselves to
quoting them: — *^This is the metamorphosis
of the female green- drake. She lives three or
four days, and is caught by the fish whilst lay-
ing her eggs on the water. She lasts a few
days longer than the green-drake, and is to be
fished with in the evening. Some fishermen
prefer other flies in season to this ; when well
made, it will, however, fiirnish excellent sporty
especially towards the evening."

Black Gnat : — Body, the feather from the

167

^eenrplover's crest; wings^ a fieldfiite's fea*
ther. To be dressed on a No. 1 Keadal hook^
with dark-purple-coloured silk.

Peacock Fly: — Body, a peacock's herl; legs,
a bluish-dun hackle. To be dressed with
Pomona green silk.

Light Mackerel Fly : — Body, light-orange
silk, ribbed with gold-twist; legs, light-red
hackle ; wings, light-grey feather of a mallard.

JULY.

Dark Mackerel My : — Body, purple silk rib-
bed with gold-twist ; legs, a dark furnace hac-
kle ; wings, a darkish grey mallard's feather.

Ash Fly : — Body, orange-coloured silk ;
legs, a furnace hackle ; wings, from a wood-
cock's wing-feather.

Orange Dun : — Body, bright-orange-colour-
ed silk ; legs, a light-blue-dun hackle ; wings,
from a fieldfare's feather.

Red Ant Fly : — Body, bright-brown pea-
cock's herl; legs, bright-red cock's hackle;

168

wings^ starling's feather. To be dressed with
bright-red-coloured silk.

• ■

Bkuik Ant Fly: — Body, black-ostrich herl;
legs, a dark hackle ; wings, of a fieldfare's fea-
ther. To be dressed with silk of a dark-puce
colour.

WretCs Hackle : — Body, light-brown silk ;
legs, the feather of a wren's tail. This little
fly will kill at all times — especially during
the summer months — when the water is low
and clear.

Grouse Hackle : — Body, deep-orange-
coloured silk ; legs, the reddish-brown-mottled
feather of the male red grouse. Will kill in
July, August, and September.

AUGUST.

Oak Fly : — Body, a black-ostrich herl,
wound thinly round the hook; legs, a dark-
red hackle, stained deeper than the natural
colour; wings, from the feather^ of a wood-
cock's wing. To be dressed with orange-
coloured silk. This fly will kill from the
latter end of April to the beginning of
September.

169

lAttle Whirling-bhie : — Body dubbed with
hare's fur from the back of the neck, mjfiLed
with a little yellow mohair ; legs^ a blue-dun
hackle ; wings, a starling's wing-feather. To
be dressed with primrose-coloured silk.

Summer Dim : — Body, of greenish-yellow
silk ; legs, a soft light-blue-dun hackle, to be
wrapped three times quite close under the
wings, so as to show the silk body well;
wings, from the wing-feather of a starling just
fledged. Let this fly be dressed as delicately
as possible^ and it will be found a very killing
one.

Peacock Fly : — This fly should be repeated,
but it should be dressed on a No. 1 Kendal
hook.

Brown Fly : — Body of yellow silk, of
the finest twist possible; legs, a red cock's
hackle, whipped twice round the body under
the wings, which are to be from the feather
of a land-rail's wing.

All the flies for July will kill more or less
in this month.

SEPTEMBER.

Little Pale Blue: — Body of a minute
portion of pale-blue fur from the water-rat^

170

mixed with a little fine fiir of any 8ort^ died
yellow ; legs, a very pale-blue hackle ; wings,
a young starling's feather. To be dressed
very delicately, with fine pale-yellow silk. A
good killer.

Willow Fly : — Body, a small portion of
monkey or water-rat's fur spun sparingly on yel-
low silk ; legs, a dark-blue-dun hackle ; wings,
a fieldfare's feather. This fly will also kill on
fine days in February.

Golden Dun : — Body, deep-straw-coloured
silk, ribbed with gold-twist; legs, a honey-
dun hackle; wings, the palest feather of a
young starling. This little fly will also kill
well on warm days towards the end of May.

Cinnamon Fly : — Body, any sort of dark^
brown fur; a pale-ginger hackle for legs;
wings, the pale-reddish-brown feather of a
hen. A good fly both during this month and
the last, on a windy day, or in a smart
shower.

N. B. The same sort of flies that killed
in April will be found equally serviceable
during this month. For October, use the
same flies you fished with in March; for
November, the same sort of flies that were

171

l^comInended for February; for December —
do not fly-fish at all.

NIGHT FLIES.

The flies used for night-fishing are gene-
rally imitations of moths. We can recom-
mend no more than three of them.

The White Moth : — Body, a white ostrich-
herl ; legs, a white cock's hackle. Wings, from
the feather of the white owl. To be tied with
white silk on a No. 4 Kendal hook. When
you fish with this fly put a gentle on the hook.

Broitm Moth: — Body, dark-brown bear's
fiir; legs, a brown hackle; wings, the brown
owl's feather, to be dressed with dark-brown
silk, on the same sized hook as that for the last
fly. A cad-bait on the point of the hook will
render the lure more enticing.

Cream-coloured Moth : — Body of any fine
cream-coloured fur ; legs, a pale-yellow hackle ;
wings, the feathers of the yellow owl of the
deepest cream-colour.

Black docker : — Body, black-ostrich herl,
thickly warped round the hook ; legs, a large

172

black hackle ; wings^ the darkest fibres of %
wild-goose's wing-feather. As we remarked
before, the Stone-fly will be found to kill late at
night. In fly-fishing by night use a short line^
and use but one of the above flies, of course,
always as a stretcher. During the darkest
parts of the night, fish with the white moth; as
the night becomes clearer, use the cream-colour-
ed and brown moths; and towards morning,
fish with the black docker. Night-fishing
with the fly can be practised successfully only
during the hot summer nights. As you can
seldom see the fish rise at your night-flies, you
must have an attentive ear, and hand; and as
soon as you hear or feel a fish rise, you must
strike at him. Make use of strong tackle, as
the fish taken by night are generally large
ones.

You have now read, patient reader, a list of
flies, which we firmly believe will be found
superior to any as yet recommended; and, if
they be dressed according to the directions we
have given, we will guarantee, and back that
guarantee by any pledge, that they will be
freely taken by trout and grayling, in every
river, stream, and brook inhabited by those
fish in the united kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland.

CHAPTER IX.

ON THE NATURE, HABITS, AND ORGANISATION
OF THE COMMON TROUT,

In giving an account of all that relates to
this beautiful fish — the handsomest, taking
every thing into consideration, that swims our
streams — we shall do little more than copy
and condense the copious and correct chapter
written by Mr. Yarrell, vice-president of the
Zoological Society, on the subject. The com-
mon trout is too widely diffused, and too gene-

174

rally known^ to make any enumeration of
particular localities* necessary. It is an inhabi-
tant of most of the rivers and lakes of Great
Britain; and so closely identified with the
pursuits and gratifications of sportsmen^ that
those landed proprietors who possess streams
of water favourable to the production and
growth of trout, preserve them with great care
and at considerable expense. The trout,
though a voracious feeder, and thus affording
excellent diversion to the experienced angler,

* '< The favourite haunts in which the trout delights, and
where the angler is most likely to meet with diversion, are,
the junction of two streams — the tails of currents — below
bridges — near old weirs or pieces of rock — where the roots
of trees are exposed by the bank having fallen in — under
hollow banks ; and an excellent mode of enticing a good
fish is, to throw the fly against the opposite bank, so that
it may drop gently from thence to the wafer ; also, where-
ever there is a fall ofwater, or a v^hirlpool ; as when on the
watch for food, they take post at the foot or sides of agita-
ted waters, lying in wait for such flies, &c. as the motion
of the element may drive before it." Bainbridge.

''To enumerate the rivers, streams, and brooks of this
country, which the common trout inhabits, would be an
endless and useless task ; he may be said to frequent al-
most all of them, and will even sometimes be discovered
in a mere ditch (in spawning time), having scarcely depth
of water enough to cover the back. He delights in rapid
clear-running waters, with a rocky or gravelly bottom.
Hia favourite haunts are the tail of a stream, the end of a
little rapid, or swifter running portion of the current, the
junction of little rapids formed by water passing round an
obstruction in the midst of the general current, and where
a chain of bubbles or little floating objects indicate the
course of the principal current $ which course is chiefly

175

;is so vigilanty cautious^ and active^ that great
skilly as well as patience^ are required to insure
success. During the day the larger-sized fish
move but little from their accustomed haunts ;
l)ut towards evening, and during the night,
they rove in search of small fish, insects, and
their various larvae, upon which they feed with
eagerness. The young trout fry may be seen
throughout the day, sporting on the shallow
gravelly scours of the stream, where the want

dependent upon various reflectionB of the water, from pro-
jecting banks, rocks, scours, and sboals, and may often
be guessed at, when not sufficiently visible, by attending to
the position of the banks, &c. At roots of trees, or in
other places where the froth (called in Stafifordshire Beg-
gar's Balm) collects, and in little whirlpools and eddies, he
will often be found. All such places are by far the most
favourable for sport ; for insects follow the same course as
the bubbles, &c. and are sought there by the fish. The
larger trout are on the scours in the night, chasing min-
nows and other small fish. In the day they are cautiously
watching for food in deep holes, under hollow banks, or
roots of trees, or at the angles of rocks. In May and June,
when the fish are strong, they are also to be found in the
more rapid parts of the water.*' Ronalds.

'' Large trout always hide themselves under the same
■bank, stone, or weed, and come out from their permanent
habitations to feed. When they have fled to their haunt,
they may be taken there by the hand ; and on this circum-
stance the practice of tickling trout is founded. A favou-
rite place for a large trout in rivers is, an eddy, behind a
rock or stone, where flies and small fishes are carried by
the force of the current ; and such haunts are rarely un-
occupied, for if a fish is taken out of them, his place is soon
supplied by another, who quits for it a less convenient
situation." Sir H, Davy.

176

of sufficient depth of water^ or the greater cau-
tion of larger and older fish, prevent their
appearance. Though vigilant and cautious in
the extreme^ the trout is also bold and active.
A pike and a trout put into a confined place
together, had several battles for a particular
spot, but the trout was eventually the master.
The season of spawning with the trout is gene-
rally in the month of October, at which period
the adult fish make their way up the stream ;
and the under jaw of the old male exhibits, in a
smaller degree, the elongation and curvature
observed to obtain in the male salmon. The
trout varies considerably in appearance in dif-
ferent localities; so much so, as to have induced
the belief, that several species exist.* It is,

* " Ipdeed, considering the sea trout as the type of the
species troutf it is, I think, probable, that all the other
troats may be considered as varieties, where the differences
of food and of habits bare occasioned, in a long course of
ages, differences of shape and colours, transmitted to off-
spring in the same manner as in the variety of dogs, which
may all be referred to one primitive type." Sir JET. Davy.

*^ There are a great number of varieties of trout, which
different naturalists have deemed to be distinct species ;
but Professor J urine of Geneva, who studied their changes
for many years, under very favourable circumstances, came
to the conclusion, that there is only one species — the
Salmo Farioy or common trout." Rennie.

'^ The variety in the shape and colour of trouts, which
are taken in different rivers and pools, has induced some
persons to imagine, that there are three distinct kinds of
this fish, namely, the red, the yellow, and the white, the

177

indeed^ probable, that more than one species
of river trout may exist in this country ; but
when we consider geologically the various
l^trata traversed by rivers in their course, the
effect these variations of soil must produce
upon the water, and the influence which the
constant operation of the water is likely to
produce upon the fish that inhabit it — when
we reflect also on the great variety and quality
of the food afforded by different rivers, depend-
ing also on soil and situation — and the addi-
tional effect which these combined causes, in
their various degrees, are likely to produce —
we shall not be much surprised at the varia-
tions, both in size and colour, which are found
to occur. That two trout of very different
appearance and quality should be found within
a limited locality in the same lake or river, is
not so easily explained; and close examination
of the various parts which afford the most per-
manent characters should be resorted to, with
a view to determine whether the subject ought
to be considered only as a variety, or entitled

former of M^hich ranks highest in estimation ; but the more
generally received and most probable />pinion is, that ihiti
difiference arises from the quality of the food, or from the
water which they inhabit being impregnated with some
substance capable of producing this efifect. Certain it is,
that their haunts, voracity, and modes of feeding, are
every where alike." Bainbridge,

I 5

178

to rank as a species. In these examinations,
the character of the internal organs also, and
the number of the bones forming the vertebral
column, should be ascertained. The normal
number of vertebrae in Salmo Farioy our com-
mon trout, I believe to be fifty-six.

Mr. Neill, in his tour, has noticed the black-
moss trout of Loch Knitching, and Loch Kat-
rine is said to abound also with small black
trout; an effect considered to be produced in
some waters by receiving the drainings of bog-
gy moors. In streams that flow rapidly over
gravelly or rocky bottoms, the trout are gene-
rally remarkable for the brilliancy and beauty of
their spots and colours. Trout are finest in ap-
pearance and flavour, from the end of May till
towards the end of September;* an effect pro-
duced by the greater quantity and variety of
nutritious food obtained during that period.
Two specimens of the common trout taken ear-
ly in January, Were unusually fine in colour for
that season of the year ; their stomachs on ex-
amination were distended with ova of large
size, which, from circumstances attending the
capture of the trout, were known to be the roe

* Trout are in the best season in the Dove and other
rivers where the May-fly is abundant, towards the end of
June, or at the time when that fly disappears. The im*-
mense number of May-flies they consume during^ the three
or four weeks thos; flies last is, of coarse, the chief cause*

179

of the bull-trout. The albuminous nature of
this sort of food, which the trout availed them-
selves of, was believed to be the cause of their
colour ; since other trout procured at the same
time from localities where no such food could be
obtained, were of the usual dark colour of that
season of the year.*

Mr. Stoddart, in his "Art of Angling as
practised in Scotland," mentions an interest-
ing experiment made with trout, some years
ago, in the south of England, in order to
ascertain the value of different food. ^^ Fish
were placed in three separate tanks, one of
which was supplied daily with worms, another
with live minnows, and the third with those
small dark-coloured water-flies which are to
be found moving about on the surface under
banks and sheltered places. The trout fed
with worms grew slowly, and had a lean
appearance; those nourished on minnows,
which, it was observed, they darted at with
great voracity, became much larger; while
such as were fattened upon flies only, attained,
in a short time, prodigious dimensions, weigh-
ing twice as much as both the others

* ** The colouring-matter is not in the scales, but in the
surface of the skin immediately beneath them, and is pro-
bably a secretion easily affected by the health of the ani-
mal.'' Sir H, Davy,

180

together, although the quantity of food swal-
lowed by them was in no wise so great." A
common trout has been caught in the neigh-
bourhood of Great Driffield, in September,
1832, which measured thirty-one inches in
length, twenty-one in girth, aud weighed
seventeen pounds. A trout weighing twenty-
five pounds was caught on the 11th January,
1822, in a little stream, ten feet wide, branch-
ing from the Avon, at the back of Castle-
street, Salisbury. It was placed in a pond
and fed, but it lived only four months, and
had decreased in weight, at the time of its
death, tb twenty-one pounds and a quarter.
The age to which trout may amve, has not
been ascertained. There are two instances
on record; one of a trout having lived in a
well at Dunbarton Castle, for twenty-eight
years, and another of a trout that lived fifty-
three years in a well in an orchard of Mr.
William Mossop, of Board Hall, near Brough-
ton-in-Furness. The Thames, at various
places, produces trout of very large size.
Among the best localities, may be named
Kingston, opposite to the public-house called
the x\ngler, Hampton-court bridge and weir,
and the weirs at Shepperton and Chertsey.*

* " The art of fishing for trout from the tops of the weirg
of the river Thames, is, I may venture to say, confined to

181

These large trout are objects of great attrac-
tion to some of the best London anglers^ who
unite a degree of skill and patience rarely to
be exceeded. The most usual mode prac-
tised to deceive these experienced fish is, by
trolling, or spinning with a small bleak,
gudgeon, or minnow; and trout of fifteen
pounds' weight are occasionally taken.

Some deep pools in the Thames above Oxford
afford excellent trout, and some of them of very
large size. We have before us a record of six,

yery few, and to those only who have been in the habit
of practising it for a considerable length of time. It re-
quires good tackle, great skill, and some nerve. A bungler
would even find it difficult to put a bleak properly on a set
of the books which are used in Thames trout-fishing, so as
to make it spin as it ought to do. The angler sits or stands
on the top of the piles of the weir, the foaming water rush-
ing through them with great force and noise. The torrent
then forms eddies and little whirlpools in the basin below,
and from which, as the water expands itself, it again re-
sumes its calm and stately movement. In the position I
have described, the angler has to cast his line into the
foaming basin, and this a skilful practitioner will do to a
distance of from thirty to forty yards. The great art, how-
ever, is in gathering up the line properly in the hand for a
second cast, so that it may not become entangled, or be
checked in its progress. When the position of the angler
is considered, this is no easy task, especially as the loss of
his balance might precipitate him into the torrent below."
Jesses JRatt^les.

The most celebrated Thames anglers are, Mr. G. Marshall,
of Brewer Street, London ; Mr. Cox, of Bermondsey ; Sir
Hyde Parker, Wm. Whitbread and Ed. Mills, Esquires,
and Mr. Bachelor, of Windsor; and Mr. Goodman, of
Hampton Court.

182

taken by minnow-spinnings which weighed
together fifty-four pounds, the largest of them
thirteen pounds. Few persons are aware of
the difficulty of taking a trout when it has
attained twelve or fourteen pounds' weight, and
it is very seldom that one of this size is hooked
and landed except by a first-rate fisherman :
such a fish, when in good condition, is con-
sidered a present worthy of a place at a royal
table. Among performances in trout^catching,
the following may be mentioned, as found in
the MS. of the late Colonel Montagu : " Mr.
Popham, of Littlecot, in the county of Wilts,
was famous for a trout fishery. They were con-
fined to a certain portion of a river by grating,
so that fish of a moderate size could not escape.
To the preserving and fattening of these fish,
much trouble and expense were devoted, and
fish of seven and eight pounds' weight were not
uncommon. A gentleman at Lackham, in the
same county, had a favourite water-spaniel, that
was condemned to suifer death for killing all the
carp in his master's ponds, but was reprieved
at the desire of Mr. Popham, who took charge
of him, in the belief that so shy and so swift a
fish as a trout, was not to be caught by a dog.
However, in this he was mistaken, for the dog
soon convinced him that his largest trout were
not a match for him."

183

The following description of a trout is taken
from a fish of twelve inches in length. The
length of the head^ compared to the length of
the head and body^ not including the caudal-
rays, was as one to four; the depth of the
body, rather more than the length of the head ;
the dorsal-fin commenced half-way between the
point of the nose and the commencement of the
upper caudal-rays ; the third ray of the dorsal-
fin, which is the longest, longer than the base
of the fin : the origin of the adipose-fin, half-
way between the commencement of the dorsal-
fin and the end of the upper half of the tail;
the pectoral-fin, two-thirds of the length of the
head; the ventral-fins under the middle of the
dorsal-fin, and half-way between the origin of
the pectoral-fin, and the end of the base of the
anal-fin ; the anal-fin begins half-way between
the origin of the ventral-fin, and the com-
mencement of the inferior caudal-rays. The
tail but slightly forked, and growing slowly up
to square in pld fish, or even very slightly con-
vex. The fin-rays in number are —

D. 14: P. 14: V. 9: A. 11: C. 19.

Vertebrae 56.

. The form of the head blunt ; the eye large,
placed one diameter and a half from the end of

184

the nose; the irides silvery^ with a tinge of
pink : the lower jaw in the Salmonidee appears
to be the longest when the mouth is opened,
but it shuts within the upper jaw when the
mouth is closed; the teeth, numerous^ strong,
and curving inwards, extending along the
whole length of the vomer ; the convexity of
the dorsal and ventral outline nearly similar;
the colour of the back and upper part of the
sides made up of numerous dark-reddish-brown
spots on a yellow-brown ground; eleven or
twelve bright-red spots along the lateral line,
with a few other red spots above and below
the line ; the lower part of the sides, golden
yellow ; belly and under surface silvery white ;
the spots on the sides liable to great variation
in number, size, and colour; dorsal-fin and
tail light brown, with numerous darker brown
spots; the adipose fin brown, frequently with
one or two darker brown spots, and edged
with red ; the pectoral, ventral, and anal fins^
uniform pale-orange brown. The number of
scales in a row above and beneath the lateral
line, about twenty-five. Deformed trout are
not uncommon ; mention of them, as occurring^
in some of the lakes of Wales, is made by-
Pennant, Oliver, and Hansard. '^In 1829,"
says the writer of the article on Angling, in
the 7th edition of the Encyclopedia Britan*

185

nica^ ^'we received some very singular trouts
from a small lock called Lockdow^ near Pit-
main^ in Inverness-shire. Their heads were
short and rounds and their upper-jaws were
truncated^ like that of a bull-dog. They do
not occur in any of the neighbouring locks^
and have not been observed beyond the weight
of half a pound." Such a trout from Lockdow
was presented to the museum of the Zoological
Society by the Honble. Twiselton Fiennes.
Walton says^ that ^^ a man should not in hon-
esty catch a trout till the middle of March ;"
but we think that time too early, at least by a
fortnight; and we seldom or never knew a
trout under ordinary circumstances in tolera-
ble season before the middle of April, or after
the middle of September. The period between
is the right and proper season to angle for
trout, and the only bait we cordially recom-
mend is the fly, the minnow, and the loach.

CHAPTER X.

ON THE NATURE, HABITS, AND ORGANISATION
OF THE GRAYLING.

The chapter we are about to write on this
gracefully-shaped iish, will be chiefly compiled
from the same source to which we are indebted
for the previous one. The grayling, though
abundant in some streams, is yet a very local
jish. Similu', in many respects, to the trout
in its habits and wants; there are numbers

187

of rivers abounding with trout^ that do not
produce grayling. In the southern counties of
Hampshire and Wiltshire, the grayling is
found in the Test and both the Avons. In
Herefordshire, in the Dove, the Lug, the Wye,
and the Irvon. In Shropshire, in the Teme
and the Clun. In Staflfordshire, in the Hod-
der, the Trent, the Dove, the Churnet, and the
Wye. In Derbyshire, in the Dove. In Meri-
onetshire, in the Dee, between Curwen and
Bala. In Nottinghamshire, in the Trent. In
Lancashire, in the Ribble. In Yorkshire, in
the Derwent, the Ure, the Wharfe, and the
Wiske, near Northallerton. Dr. Heysham
says, it is occasionally taken in the Eden and
the Esk in Cumberland. It is also found in
several of the minor streams of nearly all the
above-mentioned counties. It is not found,
that we are aware, either in Ireland or Scot-
land ; Mr. Low, however, includes this fish in
his Fauna OrcadensiSf and it is known to be
plentiful in Sweden, Norway, and Lapland. It
is found in France, Germany, and in the north-
em parts of Italy. The peculiarity of the local
distribution in this country gave rise to the
supposition, that the grayling had been origi-
nally introduced by the monks, as a fish worth
cultivating; many of the rivers containing
grayling being near the remains of great mon-

188

asteries.* But two cireumstances affect this
solution: it would be very dijficult to bring
this fish alive from the continent to this coun-
try; and it is not found in the rivers of
Kent^ Dorsetshire^ Devonshire^ or Cornwall,
where monastic establishments were formerly
numerous.

The grayling thrives best in rivers with
rocky or gravelly bottoms, and seems to re-
quire an alternation of stream and pool. Ac-
cording to Sir Humphrey Davy, who has given
a good history of the grayling in his '* Sal-
monia," this fish was introduced into the Test,
in Hampshire, from the Avon ; and the former
river, in particular parts, appears to suit it the
better of the two. Large grayling are, hoW"*
ever, occasionally taken in both these waters,
which are particularly resorted to by the
southern anglers. Three graylings, weighing
together twelve pounds, were caught by
Thomas Lister Parker, Esq. in the Avon, near
Ringwood. A grayling of four and a half
pounds' weight has been killed in the Test;
and one of five pounds is recorded to have been

* We think the monks,

*^ If ancient tales say true, nor wrong these holy men,*^

better judges in matters of gastronomy than to take any
trouble about the introduction of a iish in every respeot in-
ferior to the indigenous trout.

189

caught near Shrewsbury. However fastidious
in the quality of the water or the choice of
situation in the stream the grayling is known
to be^ experiment has proved^ that this fish will
live in ponds that have been newly made in
hard soil ; or in such as have been very recent-
ly and carefully cleaned out; but in these
situations the grayling does not breeds and
they will not continue to live in old muddy
ponds. The ova of this fish are numerous^
large^ and of a deep-orange colour ; the spawn-
ing season is in April, or the beginning of
May ; in this respect diifering from the other
Salmanid^, most^ if not all, of which spawn
towards the end of the year, and generally in
cold weather. The grayling, however, is in
the finest condition in October and Novem-
ber,* when trout are out of season, not having
then recovered the effects of their recent
spawning, while the young grayling of that
year are about seven inches in length.

The food of the grayling, as ascertained by
examination, besides the various flies — imi-
tations of which are successfully used by
anglers — consists also of the larvae of Phry-
ganea^ Ephemera^ and Libellula ; the remains,
of the cases of the former, and the tough

•The only reason why the " with-weU-capon-llned"
monks should have imported them.

190

skins of all of them^ being freqaently found
in their stomachs. We have found also^ several
small shells^ examples of the Physa and
Neritina Jluvialis. Dead shells and small
pebbles are also found; but whether these
last are taken up by the fish to serve any
useful purpose, as in the stomachs of galli.
naceous birds> or have only formed part of the
case of the Phryganeay may be questioned.
Some English authors have considered the
grayling a migratory fish, passing the winter
in the sea, and the summer in firesh water.
" Early in spring," says Mr. Donovan, " they
ascend the rivers, where they remain till
autumn, and then return to their former
element." This may apply to grayling on
some parts of the European continent,* but is
not the case certainly with our fish in this
country, in the rivers of which it is found in
the most perfect condition, and, in consequence,
most eagerly sought after in October and
November. We have caught gi'ayling in the
Dove on the 27th of March this year — the
very day on the evening of which we are now
writing— -between Norbury and Rocester, and
though small ones — not exceeding three
quarters of a pound in weight — some of them

* Block says the g^yUng descends to the Baltic in
autumn.

191

were in the very highest perfection. Their
flavour was equal to that of trout of the same
size^ and the colour of the outward surface of
the flesh of several of them^ was a beautiful
pink. The day was sun-shiny, without a
cloudy and the fly they all took was the March-
brown. However, the finest specimens we ever
saw, were taken in November; and Sir H.
Davy states in his *'Salmonia," he had proved
that the grayling of England would not bear
even a brackish water without dying.

The term Thymallm is said to have been
bestowed upon this fish, on account of the
peculiar odour it emits when fresh from the
water, which is said to resemble that of thyme;
and from its agreeable colour, as well as smell,
St. Ambrose is recorded to have called the
grayling the flower of fishes. To be eaten in
perfection, it cannot be dressed too soon after
it is taken from the water, and it should be
handled as delicately and as little as possible.
The name grayling is supposed to be a modifi-
cation of the words gray-lines, in reference to
the dusky longitudinal bars along the body.
It has been considered, that the large dorsal-
fin of the grayling enabled it to rise and sink
rapidly in deep pools; but this power would
rather seem to be aiSbrded by the large size of
the swimming-bladder. The very large dorsal-

192

fin^ compared to the small size of all the other
fins^ renders the grayling unable to stem rapid
curents; they are much more prone to go
down stream than up^ and are never seen leap-
ing at a fall like trout

In a grayling of ten inches long, the length
of the head is to the body alone as one to four ;
the depth of the body rather more than equal
to the length of the head: from the point of
the nose to the commencement of the dorsal-
fin, is equal to one-third of the length of the
whole fish, to the end of the fleshy portion of
the tail ; the posterior edge of the dorsal-fin,
half-way between the point of the nose and the
end of the longest caudal -rays ; the adipose fin,
rather nearer the dorsal-fin than the end of the
tail : the height of the dorsal-fin, equal to half
the height of the body, the first ray short, the
next five increasing gradually in length ; the
sixth ray, nearly as long as the seventh, and, as
well as the five anterior rays, articulated and
simple ; the seventh ray, and all the rays be-
hind it, articulated, branched, and nearly of
the same height; the length of the base of
the fin, not equal to twice the length of its
longest ray : the pectoral fin, small, narrow,
and pointed: the ventral fins commencing
in a vertical line under the middle of the
dorsal-fin; the anal fin commences half-way

193

between the origin of the ventral-fin, and
the end of the fleshy portion of the tail, and
^nds on the same plane as the adipose-fiii
abo^e itj the longest ray but little longer
than the base of the fin. The tail forked;
the middle rays rather more than half as long
as the longest. ITie fin-rays in number
are —

D. 20: P. 15: V. 10: A. 13: C. 20.

Vertebree 58.

The head is small and pointed, flattened a|t
the top ; the breadth of the eye equal to one-
fourth of the length of the whole head ; irides
golden-yellow, piipil blue, pear-shaped, the
apex directed forward: the opening of the
mouth, when viewed in front, square; the
teeth small, incurved, numerous, none on the '
tongue, and only a few on the most anterior
part of the vomer: behind the head, the nape
and back rise suddenly ; the body deepest at
the commencement of the dorsal-fin, then
tapering off to the tail; abdominal line but
slightly convex ; the scales rather large; the
lateral line in the middle of the body not very
€K)n8picuou8, with seven rows of scales on an
oblique line above it, and seven rows below it;
the sid^s marked with about fifteen dusky

194

longitudinal bands. The general colour of
the body^ light-yellow brown^ beautifully
varied with golden, copper, green, and blue
reflections, when viewed in different lights,
with a few decided dark spots : the head
brown; on the cheeks and gill-covers a tinge
of blue: all the fins somewhat darker than
the colour of the body ; the dorsal-fin varied
with square dusky spots on the membrane
between the rays, the upper part of the fin
spotted and streaked with reddish brown.
The grayling appears to become darker by
age, and the pectoral fins are reddish about
spawning time, with small black spots.

The chapters Sir H. Davy has written so
carefully about this fish will,' if judiciously con-
densed, be found useful and interesting to our
readers. They contain much that relates to
the natural history of the fish, and to the mode
of angling for it. Leintwardine, near Ludlow,
was a favourite piscatory resort of Sir Hum-
phrey's, and he is of opinion, that there is no
stream in England more productive of grayling
than that water is. The Dove would be, were
it not for those infernal prowlers, the poachers
of the neighbourhood of Ashbome. The
grayling requires a number of circumstances
in a river, to enable it to multiply. The Dove
possesses those circumstances,' namely, a tem-

195

perature in the water which is moderate — nei-
ther too high nor too low. Grayling are never
found in streams that run from glaciers — at
least near their source ; and they are killed hy
cold or heat. ^ Sir Humphrey put some grayling
firom the Teme, in September, with some trout,
into a confined water, rising from a spring in
the yard at Dowton ; the grayling all died, but
the trout lived. And in the hot summer of
1825, great numbers of large grayling died in
the Avon, below Ringwood, without doubt kill-
ed by the heat in July. In the northern Euro-
pean countries, char are always found in the
highest and coldest waters ; the trout, in the
brooks rising in the highest and coldest moun-
tains; and the grayling always lower, where
the temperature is milder; and, if in hot coun-
tries, only at the foot of mountains, not far from
sources which have the mean temperature of
the atmosphere. Besides temperature, gray-
ling require a peculiar character in the disposi-
tion of the water of rivers. They do not dwell,
like trout, in rapid, shallow, torrents ; nor, like
i^har or chub, in deep pools or lakes. They
require a combination of stream and pool ; they
like a deep still pool for rest, and a rapid stream
above, and a gradually declining shallow below,
and a bottom where marl or loam is mixed with
gravel; and they are not found abundant ex-

196

cept in rivers that have these characters.
There must be a succession of deep still pools
under shady banks of marl^ with gentle rapids
above^ and a long shelving tail^ where the fish
sport and feed. If there are no sfich pools in a
river, grayling will remain, provided the water
be clear, and will breed; but they cannot stem
rapid streams, and they are gradually carried
down lower and lower, and at last disappear.

The trout, in all its habits of migration,
runs upward, seeking the fresh and cool waters
of mountain sources to spawn in : the grayling,
we believe, has never the same habit of run^
ning up stream ; we never saw one leaping at
B fall, where trout are so often seen. When a
grayling is hooked he very rarely jumps, as a
trout does, out of the water to shake off the
hook, but he descends to below mid-water, and
there struggles stoutly to get free, and is by
no means what Cotton calls him, *^one of the
deadest-hearted fishes in the world." How-
ever, if the grayling happen to be hooked
sharply in any of the bones of the upper jaw,
he will, tmd so will most fish under a similar
circumstance, at the first prick throw himself
two or three feet from out the water. The
large back fin seems intended to enable him to
rise and sink rapidly in deep pools ; and the
slender nature of the body, towards the twl.

197

renders the grayling much more unfit for leap-
ing cataracts than the trout and salmon- The
temperature of the water^ and its character aa
to still and stream^ seem of more importance
than clearness; for grayling have been taken
in streams that are almost constantly turbid^
as in the Inn and the Salza in the Tyrol.
This fish appears to require food of a particular
kind, feeding much upon flies and their larvse,
and not usually preying upon small fish, as the
trout. We recollect, however, that a gentle-
zaan of the name of Powell, who resided for
some time in the neighbourhood of Ashborne,
and who always fished with a minnow, was in
the constant habit of catching large grayling
with that bait. He has been known to catch
of a day, by spinning the minnow, four gi-ayling
each upwards of a pound and a half in weight.
The grayling has a very strong stomach,
almost approaching to that of the gillaroo
trout, and is exceedingly fond of those larvce
which inhabit cases, and which, usually covered
with sand or gravel, require a strong membra-
neous stomach to enable the extraneous matter
to be separated. In accordance with their
general habits of feeding, grasshoppers are
amongst their usual food in the end of summer
and autumn; and at all seasons, maggots,
upon £me tackle and a small hook, ofier a

198

secure mode of taking them — the pool having
been previously baited for the purpose of
angling, by throwing in a handful or two a few
minutes before. Prepared salmon spawn or
roe is, apparently on account of the strong
fishy smell it emits, an excellent bait for
grayling.

In fishing for grayling, you may use as many
as four flies at a time on your casting-line ; for
that fish lies deeper, and is not so shy a fish as
the trout, and, provided the gut be fine, is not
apt to be scared by the cast of the flies on the
water. Very slender transparent gut of the
colour of the water, is one of the most impor-
tant causes of success in grayling fishing. A-
trout generally lies near the surface of the
water, and sucks in the flies as they sail down
by him, which a grayling scarcely ever does.*
He rises rapidly from the bottom or middle of
the water — on the contrary — darting upwards ;
and having seized his fly, sinks rapidly to his
station. This habit, however, is not invariable ;
for we have sometimes seen trout feed like
grayling, and vice versa ; but neither of these
fish emits bubbles of air in rising, as dace and
chub do. In playing the grayling, it is neces-
sary to use a very light hand, and never to
play him against the stream if it be at all rapid;
for the flesh of the mouth is extremely tender

199

T— we may say brittle — and unless the hook
catch through the lip^ it is more than an equal
chance that he will escape you.

The habits of the grayling, like those of
most other fish, are very simple. He is, to a
certain extent, gregarious; more so than the
trout, and less so than the perch. He is in the
highest or most perfect season, at the end of
November or beginning of December, when
his back is very dark, almost black, and his
belly and lower fins almost gold-coloured ; but
his brightness, like that of most other fishes,
depends a good deal upon the nature of the
water. In many rivers of the continent, the
grayling is far more brilliantly coloured than
in England; the lower part almost a bright
orange, and the back fin approaching the colour
of the damask rose, or rather of an anemon6.
The grayling spawns in April, and sometimes
as late as the beginning of May ; the female is
generally then followed by two or three males.
She deposits her ova in the tails of sharp streams,
and the males, rubbing against her, shed upon
the ova the milt or seminal fluid. It has not
been ascertained with certainty how long a
time is required for the exclusion of the young
ones ; but in the end of July, or beginning of
August, they are of the size of sprats, four or
five inches long, and already sport merrily at a

200

fly. The grayling hatched in May or Jnn^
become the same year^ in September or Octo-
ber^ nine or ten inches long^ and weigh from
half a pound to ten ounces;* and the year
after, they are from twelve to fifteen inches
long, and weigh from three-quarters to a
pound; and these two sizes are the fish that
most usually rise at the fly. The grayling
may be fished for at all times, since he is
rarely so much but of season as to be a bad
fish, and when there are flies on the water^
will generally take them; but as the trout may
be considered as a spring and summer fish, so
the grayling may be looked upon as an autum-
nal and winter fish. Grayling are taken in
spring with the same imitation of flies as the
trout; and, as far as flies are concerned, these
two species feed alike, though it may generally,
be taken for granted, that the grayling prefers
smaller flies; and the varieties of the ephemerae:
or phryganesD, of the smallest size^ form their
favourite food. Yet grayling do not refuse

* This statement is made on the authority of Sir H. Davy;
bat, although his opinion is supported by that of Mr.
Yarrell, we thii^k that he attributes a too rapid growth to
the grayling. How is it that so many fish of this species
are caught under the weight of six ounces each in February
and March ? Surely they ought to have increased in bulk
during the quarter of a year that intervened between those,
latter months and the previous October. The growth of
this fish is not yet positively known.*

201

large flies^ and the stone-fly^ the May-fly, and
even moths^ are greedily taken in the summer
by large fish of this species. Flies^ likewise,
that do not inhabit the water, but are blown
from the land, are likewise good baits for
^ayling. lliere is no method more killing,
for large gi'ayling, than applying a grasshopper
to the point of a leaded hook, the lead and
shank of which are covered with green and
yellow silk, to imitate the body of the animal.
This mode of fishing is called sinking and
drawing. We have seen it practised with as
much success as maggot-fishing ; and the fish
taken were all of the largest size ; the method
being most successful in deep holes, where the
bottom was not visible, which are the natural
haunts of such fish. In the very depth of win-
ter grayling rise for an hour or two, in bright
and tolerably warm weather ; and at this time,
the smallest imitations of black or pale gnats
that can be made, on the smallest-sized hook,
succeed best in taking them. In March the
dark-bodied willow-fly may be regarded as the
earliest fly; the imitation of which is made by
dark-claret dubbing and a dun-hackle, or short
fibres from the starling's feather for wings.
This fly has four small wings, and we have seen
it on the water early in the cold March of the
very backward and bleak spring of the present

K 5

202

year. The blue-dun comes on in the middle of
the day in this month, and is imitated by dun-
hackles for wings and legs, and an olive dubbing
for body. In mild weather, in morning and
evening in this month, and through April, the
green-tail, or grannom, comes on in great
quantities, and is well imitated by a hen phea-
sant's wing-feather, a gray or red hackle for
legs, and a dark peacock's herl, or dark hare's
ear for, for body. The same kind of fly, of a
larger size, with paler wings, kills well in the
evening through May and June. The imita-
tion of a water insect called the spider-fly^
with a lead-coloured body and woodcock's
wings, is a killing bait towards the end of April
and the beginning of May. A dark fly, imi-
tated by a dark- shaded pheasant's wing, black
hackle for legs, and a peacock's herl, ribbed
with red silk, for ihe body, is greedily taken in
May and June. At this season, and in July,
imitations of the black and red palmer worms,
which we believe are taken for black, or brown,
or red beetles, or cockchafers, kill well ; and, in
dark weather, there are usually very light duns
on the water. In August, imitations of the
house-fly and blue-bottle, and the red and black
ant-fly, are taken, and are particularly killing
after floods in autumn, when great quantities
of the fly are destroyed and washed down the

203

river. In this months on cloudy days^ pale-
blue duns frequently appear; and they are still
more common in September. Throughout the
summer and autumn^ on fine calm evenings^ n
large dun fly, with a pale-yellow body, is greedily
taken by grayling after sunset; and a good
imitation is, consequently, very killing. In the
end of October, and through November, there
is no fly-fishing but in the middle of the day,
when imitations of the smaller duns may be
used with success ; the best sport is to be ob-
tained, in bright sunshine, from twelve till half-
past two o'clock. Grayling, if yoju take your
station by the side of a river, will rise nearer to
you than trout, for they lie deeper, and, there-
fore, are not so readily scared by an object on
the bank ; but they are more delicate in the
choice of their flies than trout, and will much
oftener rise and refuse the fly. Trout, from
lying nearer the surface, are generally taken
before grayling, where the water is slightly
coloured, or after a flood; and in rain trout
usually rise better than grayling, though it
sometimes happens, when great quantities of
flies come out in rain, grayling, as well as trout,
are taken with more certainty than at any other
time ; the artificial fly, in such cases, looks like
a wet fly, and allures even the grayling, that

204

generally is more difficult to deoeiv^e than trout
in the same river.

Never wishing to quote an author^ or bor*
row from him without acknowledgmetit^ Wd
will remind the reader^ that most of the
remarks comprised in the preceding pages are
extracted from various parts of Sir H. Davy's
Salmonia. We will now lay before the reader
some curious observations communicated to
Mr. Jesse, by a gentleman residing on the
banks of the Teme. The said gentleman
communicates them in a tone of the most
confident authority, and as some of them are
in direct variance with the opinions of Sir
H. Davy and Mr. Yarrell, and as others run
diametrically counter to our notions of gray-
ling-fishing, we will, putting them into the
smallest possible space, write them down, to
the end that both sides of the question may
be fairly heard. The gentleman in question,
says, ^^Any person who has ever fished in a
grayling river, will remember that there are
three very distinct sizes of fish : the pink,
so called, I imagine, from its not much
exceeding the minnow in size; the shett, or
shote, which average about five to the pound ;
and the half-pound fish, which then takes the
name of ^grayling.' Now, as I have myself
constantly caught aU these several kinds on

205

the same day, and that in the month of Octo*
ber; and it is allowed by all, that grayling
spawn in April, or at latest in May ; if all
these fish are the produce of the same year,
jtiow can you account for the great difference
in size ? And yet Sir Humphrey affirms, that
the fish spawned in April, in the October of
the same year attain the weight of half a
pound, or even ten ounces ! Leaving this for
more competent judges to determine, I will
now state the common opinion, to which I
confess I am much more inclined than the
other. It is, that the pink-grayling are the
fi'y of the present year ; the shett, of the year
preceding; and, therefore, instead of being
a fish of rapid growth, that a grayling of more
than half a pound is a fish of nearly two
years of age, and up to which time they do

not spawn.*

" During the whole of August, and up to the
middle of September in this summer [1833],
the weather was so sultry, and the water so
low and fine, that all our country anglers fan-
cied it was useless to attempt to kill fish. The
consequence was, I had the river [Teme] very

* Very probable. We have caug^bt several grayling this
spring. Those of half a pound and under had no spawn in
them — the larger ones were fuU of it, and the eggs in a
state of large developement.

206

much to myself; and by using very fine tackle^
mnd wading under bushes where the fish had
probably never even seen an artificial fly, I had
capital sporty seldom failing to fill my basket,
which holds about seventeen pounds of fish.
I usually fished with three flies, the red-ant,
fern, and orange-tail ;* and I will venture to
back them during those two months against all
the combinations of feather, fur, and silk, ever

put together And now having given

you a hint about flies, I will tell you a secret or
two about making use of them, which is of much
greater importance. You will always see any
person who is a stranger to grayling fishing,
and I may add, many who have fished for them
all their lives, when the water is very low and
clear, immediately betake themselves to the
streams and curls, from the idea that the fish
will see your line in the dead water. Let them
do so ; they will perhaps catch a few trout, and
some shett grayling. But go yourself to a
deep, dead part of the river, never mind if there
is no wind, or if the sun is hot ; use the finest
gut you can procure (even if you give a guinea
a knot for it), and two flies ; and when you
have thrown your line as light as gossamer, let

* Body) green dabbing, mixed with a Uttle yeUow $ a
tuft of orange silk or worsted for tail ; made buzz witb
light-blue hackle.

207

it sink for eight or ten inches. You will not
see a rise, but a slight curl in the water^ which
by little practice you will understand quite as
well, and when you strike, you will have the
pleasure of finding a povnder or more tugging
away at the end of your line. This is the real
secret in grayling-fishing; and I have often
filled my basket, while eight or ten other fish-
ermen on the water, using the very same flies,
have not managed to kill a decent dish
amongst them all."

This method of fishing for grayling in still
water by sinking the flies, is also recommended
by the Editor of the Literary Gazette as a
killing way for trout. That celebrated writer
says, " We have dragged out fine trout as fast
as we could throw our line, when the fly, from
their incessant biting, was reduced to the bare
hook, and the hackle-feather fastened merely
at the shank. A very favourite and successful
practice of ours was, to fish in a part of the
river where others seldom thought of, in the
dead still water, imitating a drowned fly, and
using very fine tackle: here we have filled
our baskets with the best trout, whilst others
have thrashed the stream in vain."

It would be quite unpardonable in us to give
the lie direct to the assertions of those gentle-
men, particularly when they relate to facts

208

performed by themselves. But we must say-
that we have hundreds of times, with the finest
tackle ever knotted together, and the best flies
that human fingers could dress, tried the
method of fishing in dead still water, recom*
mended by them, and we never in any single
instance found it attended even with the
shadow of success. Fish then, impartial
reader, after both fashions, for trial' sake, and
for your own satisfaction, and inform us at the
end of the season whether you have kille4
more fish in "dead still water" — in a "deep,
dead part of the river, when there is no wind
and when the sun is hot" — or in streams,
eddies, and curls, and in deeps, when the wind,
piping on them, has made them alive, and the
lowering clouds have stripped them of their
transparency. We will stake our reputation on
your judgment.

We will conclude this chapter — which we
fancy a tolerably complete one — on the gray-
ling, by giving a short extract from the common
£either of us all — quaintly poetical Izaak Wal-
ton. It is a very fair specimen of the old gentle-
man's style, and not an unflattering portrait of
our pretty friend, the grayling. " The umber*

* ** The title of Umber appears to be derived from the
Latin Umbra, a shadow, which the rapidity of its motions
aathorises, inasmuch as, wh'en swimming, it darts with

209

and grayling are thought by some to differ as
the herring and pilchard do. But though they
may do so in other nations, I think those in
England diSer nothing but in their names.
Aldrovandus says^ they be of a trout kind ; and
Gesner says, that in his country, which is Swit-
s&erland, he is accounted the choicest of all fish*
And in Italy, he is, in the month of May, so
highly valued, that he is sold at a much higher
rate than any other fish. The French, which
call the chub un vilain, call the umber of the
lake Leman un umhle chevalier;* and they value
the umber or grayling so highly, that they say
he feeds on gold; and say, that many have
been caught out of their famous river of Loire^
out of whose bellies grains of gold have been;
often taken. And some think that he feeds:
on water-thyme, and smells of it at his first
taking out of the water ; and they may think
so with as good reason as we do that our smelts
smell like violets at their first being caught^

such velocity as to give the semblance to the eye of the
flitting of a shadow, rather than the actual movement of
an animated substance.*' Bainbridge,

* A not nnfanciful aristocratic distinction, as supposing
that elegancy of shape, tenderness of flesh, and delicacy of
complexion imply gentility of race. It may have been
so in the olden time ; but since money and nobility have
been crossed, neither little white ears, nor little white
hands, are the *' distinctive die*' of a sixteen-quartered
tittutcheon.

210

which I think is a truth. Aldrovandus says>
the salmon^ the graylings and trout^ and all
fish that live in clear and sharp streams are
made by their mother Nature of such exact
shape and pleasant colours, purposely to invite

her. Whether this is a truth or not it is not
my purpose to dispute : but 'tis certain^ aU that
write of the umber declare him to be very medi-
cinable. And Gesner says^ that the fat of an.
umber or grayling, being set with a little honey,
a day or two in the sun, in a little glass, is very
excellent against redness, or swarthiness, or
any thing that breeds in the eyes. Salviani
takes him to be called umber from his swift
swimming or gliding out of sight, more like a
shadow or a ghost than a fish. Much more
might be said both of his smell and taste ; but
I shall only tell you, that St. Ambrose, the glo-
rious Bishop of Milan, who lived when the
church kept fasting-days, calls him the flower-
fish, or flower of fishes ; and that he was so far
in love with him, that he would not let him pass
without the honour of a long discourse. He
is of a very fine shape, his flesh is white, his
teeth, those little ones that he has, are in his
throat, yet he has so tender a mouth, that he is
oftener lost after an angler has hooked him than
any other fish. Though there be many of these

211

fishes in the delicate river Dove, and in Trent,
Bod some other smaller rivers, as that which
runs by Salisbury, yet he is not ao general a fish
as the trout, nor to me so good to eat or to an-
gle for. And BO I shall take my leave of him."

212

CHAPTER Xi;

ON TROLLING, DIBBING, OR DAPING, &C.

We will confess, that though we are about
to write a chapter on minnow-spinning, we
do not sit down to do so with much inward
satisfaction, for it is a mode of fishing that we
are not over-attached to, and it is one which
we never practise, unless when we absolutely
want a dish of trout. Generally speaking,
however, it is decidedly the most killing mode
of taking trout, and, perhaps, the only way
o£ catching the largest fish of that species.
The picturesque observation of Walton is true,
'^that a large trout will come as fiercely at a
minnow, as the highest-mettled hawk doth
seize on a partridge, or a greyhound on a
hare." Now, so unaccountable are the tastes
of men, that we are not unwilling to subject
ourselves to the charge of, in this one
instance, lack of judgment; for we cannot pre*
vent ourselves from avowing, that one of our
objections to the use of the minnow is, that

213

it is too sure a bait. Absolute certainty in
the pursuit of game destroys the keenness of
enjoyment, when success depends, in no way,
upon chance. Minnow-fishing may be co>m*
pared to playing at whist with the four
honours always in your hand. It has, how-
ever, several advantages over fly-fishing. It
depends little on the state of the weather, and
can be pursued with equal success on cloudy
or bright days, when there is wind or when
there is none. It matters little from what
point of the compass the wind blows ; it may
blow on your right hand or your left, from
your back, or in your teeth, it cannot prevent
you from throwing your minnow how and
where you please. Minnow-fishing requires
not that peculiar state of the water so requi-
site for fly-fishing; the water may be dis-
coloured, or it may be as clear as crystal, still
the minnow will be found deadly in either
condition — it may be curled into rough
waves by the wind, or it may be smooth
and unmfiled as a mirror, the minnow-fisher
regards it not. Neither does he much heed the
obstruction of trees, roots, or rocks; — his
tackle is strong, and there is very little fear,
unless he be very clumsy indeed, that he should
lose it. He is not troubled about playing a
fish ; with his long and powerfiil rod and strong

214

line^ he hauls the helpless fish ashore with as
much ease as a steam-vessel tows after it a cock-

•

boat. All that delicacy of hand — all that ex-
citement from the moment a fish is hooked un-
til he is safely landed — aU that care in playing
a fish which accompanies the fly-fisher, is
unknown to the minnow-fisher. He spins his
minnow, hooks his fish firmly, and every danger
is over ! He is a John- Bull fisher — he builds
not upon sand — his calculation is that of
positive gain — he coolly smiles at the poesy
of fly-fishing — he is a down-right matter-of-
fact prose personage — he is right, and we are
wrong. Be it so. We had rather err with

Plato than We forget the rest of the

quotation, and, perhaps, for certain reasons, it
is as well we do. There are persons, notwith-
standing, of that happy versatility of talent and
disposition, who, whilst they practise minnow-
fishing with extreme success, and understand it
to perfection, are equally versed in fly-fishing,
and have taste and imagination enough to con-
sider it the more agreeable, and by far the less
exceptionable of the two modes of angling for
trout. A gentleman — aye, every inch a gen-
tleman — of the latter character — Maitland
Dashwood, Esq. — kindly taught us that mode
of trolling with the minnow, which, as we con-

215

nider it the best, we will proceed to communis
cate to our readers.

The gentleman above alluded to^ and whose
name we take the liberty without permission of
making use of — not indeed to do honour to
him^ but to ourselves, and for that reason, we
are confident, he will pardon our presumption,
fishes with the minnow, in the following very
simple manner. He uses a rod twenty-two
feet long. The different joints from but to top
are all made of stained and varnished bamboo
cane. It tapers far less deeply than a fly-rod,
and is consequently stiffer and less pliant.
However, towards the top it possesses sufficient
elasticity to allow the person who uses it to
direct the bait and line in the direction he
chooses, and when playing a large flsh to throw
the strain on the but-end. The rings on it
are large, made of brass-wire, and stand
upright ; the last position being of absolute
necessity on all rods used for trolling. The
line is full eighty yards long, and it is made
of silk very strongly plaited. It is, however,
in thickness, not more substantial than a com-
mon fly-line, but it is far stronger on account
of the force that must have been used in plait-
ing it and reducing it to so small a volume.
It is thickly varnished — an excellent invention^
which prevents the line from being injured by

216

any «ort of hmnidity^ hinders it from tangling
when coiled loosely on the ground^ and
preserves to it that rigidity which is necessary
to make it slip freely and rapidly through the
Tings during the operation of throwing. The
Teel is a simple Irish click one, of rather large
dimensions*-^ being remarkably deep^ but not
wide^ and rather stiff in its play. A rod^ line,
and reel of this description is fit for every
mode of trolling — whether for trout, pike, or
salmon^.

The usual methods of placing the minnow on
the hook are by far too complicated. The one
we are about to explain is not only free from
any such objection, but is extremely neat and
simple. Three hooks (size, No. 7, Redditch)
long in the shank, and pointed at its end, are
to be soldered back to back^ so as to form a
hook of triple bend and barb. Those hooks are
to be of bright steel — that is, they are to be
chosen before they undergo the process that
turns them blue. They are to be whipped cm a
looped link of gut, 6{ fine and strong quality, of
the length of about twelve inches. The loop of
this gut is placed in the eye of a darning-needle;

* Mr. Dash wood informs ns, that in his piscatory ezcnr*
sions in Scotland, he is extremely successful in taking
■almony trolling for them as he does here for trout, eKtept,
that instead of the minnow he uses a young herring, of four
or five inches long, for a tiait.

217

alittle cut having been previously made in the
eye for the purpose of admitting the gut^ and the
point of the needle is introduced at the vent of
the minnow^ and drawn out through its mouth
until the hooks are arrested by their bend at
the vent. The loop of the gut is next passed
through a little hole in the head of a short piece
of lead ^ about an inch long^ and just thick
enough to fill the orifice of the minnow's mouthy
and the lead is then passed down the gut and
fixed in the mouth and belly of the bait. The
whole is then looped to a gut-line of about two
yards in lengthy having two swivels on it^ the
first distant from the bait about fourteen
inches^ and the second about a foot and a half
from that. This tackle is looped to the leeU
line^ and you are-prepared for casting. Before
the cast is made^ the distance you have to
throw is to be calculated^ and line sufiicient to
reach it is to be freed from the reel and allowed
to drop in coils upon the ground. The rod is
then to be grasped with both hands^ one above
the reel and the other below it^ and the bait is
to be swung to the point you wish it to reach.
As soon as the bait sinks in the water, lower the
rod to within about two feet of the surface, and
keeping constantly drawing your line with your
left hand towards you, and between the interval
of each draw, move the rod shortly and sharply

218

backwards from the direction in which your
bait is. When the bait is hauled home^ repeat
the cast. It is never necessary to strike at a
fish ; the constant motion given to the minnow
in spinning it this way is quite sufficient to hook
him. The common advice of making the min-
now spin against the stream is erroneous.
Spin it with the stream^ and invariably do so
when the weather is clear and the water low.
When you fish a stream^ stand at its tail^ and
fling your minnow towards the head of the cur-
rent on that side nearest you. Repeat your
casts until you have fished the stream from you
across to the other side. If after half a dozen
casts there is no run^ proceed to another situa-
tion. When the water is discoloured and ftdl,
you may fish the stream in whatsoever direction
you like^ either against the current or with it ;
the same advice is applicable to fishing in pools
when ruffled by the breeze. The best fish are
caught in clear and rapid streams immediately
before^ during^ and just after the drake-season.
A second very excellent way to bait with
the minnow is^ to use six hooks ; they must be
rather small ones — say No. 5 Kendal — and
they muiSt be bright, and without the usual
blue polish. The first hook is to have a small
bit of lead looped on to the gut near where
that hook is tied; about half an inch lower

219

down, soldered or brazed together back to back,
three hooks are to be attached, atid half an
inch farther on, a double hook is to be tied.
Insert the bit of lead in the minnow's mouth,
and close it by passing the first hook through
the lips of the bait ; insert one of the barbs of
the triple hook on the right-side of the back
of the bait, at about a quarter of an inch on the
head-side of the back-fin; and on the same side
of the bait, half way between the ventral-fin and
the tail, fasten one part of the double hook.
The shanks of the hooks are to be lapped with
silver tinsel, in order that every part of them
may correspond with the silvery colour of the
minnow's belly. Two swivels are to be used
as before directed. In trolling for trout let
your minnows be of middling size, and carry
them with you alive in a small tin minnow-can.
Before you put them on the hooks, kill them
by passing a needle through the spine just
over the upper ends of the gill-covers. A
minnow that has been long dead will never
spin well on account of its stifihess. We are
acquainted with several other modes of baiting
with the minnow, but those two we have given
are decidedly the best, and we think it, in con-
sequence, perfect waste of time to give any
more.

220

Trolling far Pike: — Use a rod, line, and
reel, similar to those recommended for minnow-
spinning. They will be found quite strong
enough. I^et your hooks be of the same num-
ber, and tied on in the same way, as we pointed
out in our second way of baiting with a min-
now. The hooks must be the best-tempered
perch-hooks of the largest size, and instead
of being tied half an inch distant from each
other, the distance must be a full inch. In-
stead of gut use strong gimp. Let your bait
be a good-sized fresh-killed gudgeon. Heed
not the advice of others, it is, after all, the
surest bait for pike. Make your gudgeon
spin exactly as you do the minnow, but never
fish streams or fast-running waters. If you
do, you will take only very small jacks. The
large ones lie in the deep waters, and are to be
found in the vicinity of weeds and the different
species of large water-plants. The safest way
is, to allow the fish a few moments' time to
gorge your bait, and then strike him obliquely
either to the right or left, as occasion may
suggest to you. Give him no play, hold him
strongly ^^ under buckle," wind up rapidly, and
land him without mercy or delay. He is a
ruthless tyrant, and he should be pitUessly
treated as such. Your tackle can never be too
strong; only avoid large hooks; those we

221

have recommended are sufficiently strong for
your purpose. A bundle of slight twigs are
not very easily broken; neither are two or
three small hooks^ stuck^ at the same time^ in a
pike's gorge.

Mr. Jesse^ from accounts that we have
heard of him from gentlemen who have had
the good fortune of making his acquaintance,
so thoroughly understands trolling for pike,
that we shall communicate his instructions to
our readers. Mr. Jesse observes, ^^ Indeed I
have observed, that success in pike-fishing,
especially in clear and shallow water, generally
depends on the surface being ruffled. A fine
bright day is often an unsuccessful one in
pike-fishing; whereas, I have frequently had
excellent sport in cold autumnal weather,
when there has been a breeze on the water.
When that breeze, however, is accompanied
by a cloudy sky, and a warm southerly wind,
a troUer may depend on catching fish if there
are any to be caught. The only thing I pique
myself upon is, being a good troUer ; and I
have, besides, one great advantage in trolling,
and that is, having arms and legs of rather an
unusual length, which enable me to cast a line
further than most people. As some novices
in the art may read this work, I will proceed
to give them such instructions as will, if

222

properly attended to^ speedily make them
proficients in the art^ and enable them^

* To trowle for pike> diBpeoplers of the lake.*

I must begin by recommending a light, but
strong cane-rod, some ten or eleven feet in
length,* rather stiff, but yet with some little
pliability at the upper end. The rings should
be of twisted brass, and each of them suffici-
ently large to allow, at least, the little finger
to pass through them with ease. The use of
these will be seen presently. The lines should
be of about forty yards in length, so that an
expert troUer, in a good situation, and with
the wind in bis favour, should be able to cast
nearly that distance at every throw, f The
difiiculty is, how to procure a good line. I
recommend those sold by Mr. Barth of Cock-
8pur-street,j: and who also makes up the sets
of trolling-hooks, which I am now about to
describe. The hooks, eight in number, are
fastened on gimp, having a loop at the end for
the purpose of fastening it to the swivel of one
end of a trace. The first hook is to be tied on
at about half a foot from the loop, having the

* This rod is too short by one-half.

t The line should be varnished, and of the same quality
as that recommended for fishing with the minnow, bat it
should be somewhat shorten

* Those sold by Bowness and Co., Bell Yard, Temple
Bar, are equally good.

223

barb pointing downwards^ the second and
third (double) hooks at an inch distance each
from that^ and a double hook is to be tied at
the extreme end of the gimp^ at about an inch
and a half from the third hook. On the top
or upper side of the gimp, is to be tied, at the
distance of half an inch from the third hook,
a single hook with the bend reversed towards
the loop-end of the gimp. The first hook is
to be put through the lips of the bait, passing
it first, from the outside, through the upper and
then through the lower lip; the second and
third lower hooks should be fixed on the side
of the back — the fourth, or reversed hook, is
placed a contrary way, for the purpose of
giving a bend to the tail of the bait which
makes it spin — and one of the last hooks is
to be fixed near the fork of the tail of the
bait. It requires some skill to put on a bait
properly, so as to make it spin when played in
the water, but a little practice will soon efiect
this. The length from the loop to the last
hook should be about eleven inches, and the
trace about twenty-two inches, having a swivel
at each end, and one in the middle. The
trace is also made of gimp, and should have
three or four rather large shots attached to it.
These will enable a young beginner to throw
his bait the more readily.

224

*^ With the above-mentioned rod and tackle^
half a dozen good dead baits, either gudgeons^
or dace, but as nearly as possible — if a little
longer the better — the length of the set of
hooks to be used, a knife with a small hammer
at the end, to kill and crimp the pike when
taken, and a pair of scissors, to extract the
hooks from his mouth, the troller may set
to work. If he fishes from a bank, mill-dam,
meadow, or, in short, from any place where his
line is not liable to get entangled, no reel is
necessary. It is, in fact, an encumbrance.
Longer, quicker, and better casts can be made
without one. The troller has only to gather
up his line around him, and alter his cast,
which is chiefly made with the right hand,
and he has his left at liberty to draw in the
line, which he disposes on the ground near
him, stepping forward a pace or two, so as to
vary the place where his bait is thrown. In
this way he may make his casts with great
rapidity, letting his bait sink or keeping it
near the surface according to the depth of the
water, or the height of the weeds. When
weeds are found within six or eight inches of
the surface, the bait should be skimmed nearly
along the top of the water. This may be done
by having a small one, fewer shot, keeping th6
top of the rod well elevated, and by throwing

225

out a lesser length of line. On the contrary,
when the water is deep, the point of the rod
should be held near the water, and additional
shot should be added to the trace, to make
the bait sink the quicker. In this way of troll-
ing, the large rings recommended to be fixed
on the rod are of essential use. In case of any
knot in the line, or any bit of grass or small
stick adhering to it, an obstruction seldom
takes place, as the rings are sufficiently large
to let them through, when the line is cast.
This hint is well worth the attention of trollers.
The bjBst hooks for trolling are those made by
O'Shaughnessy of Limerick. When a reel is
necessary, as it is when fishing in foul places,
I would recommend a wooden one, about four
and a half inches across, having the rim
grooved for the reception of the line. These
reels turn round with great rapidity when the
cast is made, letting out a sufficient length of
line, and are wound up again by turning them
with the fore-finger. They are much to be
preferred to the common brass reel.

''When a pike has come at a bait, a mo-
ment's pause should take place, and he should
be then gently struck to the right or left as his
supposed position may be. If the troller
strikes when the mouth of the fish is directly

towards him, he is apt to pull the bait' out of his

226

mouth. When a pike is hooked^ he should be
kept as much as possible near the surface of the
water to prevent his getting into the weeds^
which add so much to the stress on the line.
If he is a weighty fish^ it will be necessary to
allow time for three or four violent struggles
which he will make^ but in general it is as well
to land him as soon as possible. What is said
about playing him till lie is tired is a waste of
time. I am always for securing a fish as quick-
ly as may be. The best trolling I have had,
has generally been from the 1st of November,
to the 1st of March. The weeds are then
down and rotten, and pike see the bait readily.
The weather, however, for fishing at this sea-
son of the year, should be moderately fine, with
a mild wind, and the water ^ in tune,' as an old
angler calls it. I have never had a good day's
trolling when the water has been discoloured.
The best time of the day for trolling for pike
is, from four to six o'clock in the evening, in
summer, and from two to three o'clock, in
winter. They may, however, be readily taken
at all times of the day when the weather is pro-
pitious. I prefer gudgeons to all other baits, as
they are tougher, and, therefore, are not readily
jerked off the hooks. If properly put on, they
spin admirably, and are then very attractive.
A bleak is the next good bait, but I generally

227

find that I take smaller pike with it than I do
with a gudgeon. A small perch^ with the fins
cut ofi*^ is not a bad bait^ but the most killing
one I know of is, a smelt, it, however, is not
always to be had. By fishing with a dead bait,
and by instantly killing a fish as soon as it is
landed, but little pain is inflicted, and perhaps
not more than every animal sufiers, in being de-
prived of life for the purpose of becoming food
for the use of man. I am the more desirous of
mentioning this, because there are m^ny per-
sons who think that angling and cruelty are
synonymous terms. The method I recommend
is, I think, infinitely to be preferred to the
gorge, snap, or beed-hooks so generally used,
and which have been extolled by both ancient
and modem writers on angling. Experience
alone can prove this."

A very excellent and amiable young friend
of ours — endeared to us for his many manly
attributes of head and heart — Mr. Chai*les
Creswell, of New Lenton, Nottinghamshire,
one of the most successful pike and perch
fishers that we know, practises the following
very simple method. For pike-fishing he
makes use of a strong, short rod, with a strong
silk line, and large wooden reel, and his bait is
a live gudgeon. He merely passes a double
pike-hook attached to about a yard of gimp

228

through both lips of the bait^ allowing it . to
Bwim here and there at some distance from
him^ and rather near the bottom of the waten
He uses a float in order to determine how far
the bait is sunk. He allows the fish considera-*
ble time to gorge the gudgeon^ and then he
laAds him with as little delay as possible. He
perch fishes exactly in the same way^ except
that he uses a much smaller hook^ tied on
stout guty and that his bait is a rather small*
sized minnow. He generally wades^ where the
river will allow it, and fishes right on before
him. Under his guidance we have frequently
had excellent sport in divers parts of the river
Trent, particularly at Beeston Weir, an excel-
lent fishing station near Nottingham, and
where before this summer be over, if health
be spared us, we will once more join him and a
party of right true friends, and if we cannot
catch fish we can '^ spin tough yarns," Decame-
ron-like, in some shady nook of Clifton Grove.
And who knows but we may fall in with a

shoal of . We hate to excite jealousy;

but we hope that Sir Jukes has not succeeded
in shutting up the foot-path through the
grove, and that old Nottingham pours out
into its sylvan recesses its laughing gipsy-
parties as of yore.*

* We have used in several of the rivers in the south of

229

Dibhing or Dapmg : •— This is one of the ea;*
siest modes of angling, and we have seen chiU
dren practise it with success. The flies used
are natural ones in a live state, and the follow^
ing are the best. The green-drake, the stone-
fly, the common house or window fly, the oak^-
fly, and the March-brown. The green-drake is-,
iongo intervallo, the best of all. The best time
to fish with these flies is, two or three days after
they come in, when the fish have become fa^
miliarised with their appearance, and are rising
at them as fast as they drop upon the water.
The pleasing advantage accompanying this way
of fishing is, that it is practised at the most
beautiful season of the year, when trout are in
perfect condition, both as to colour and flavour^

Ireland an artificial fly in fishing for pike, and ve have
frequently killed large fish with it when every other lure
proved useless. This fiy should be dressed on a double
hook formed of the same piece of wire, which should be
fastened to a strong piece of gimp. The wings should be
made of four feathers from a young peacock's tail. The
part of the feather to be used, is that containing what is
called the eye. The body of the fiy should be made of an
equal mixture of fine bear's fur, red squirrel's fur, and yel-
low mohair. The head should be made of half a dozen laps
of gold-twist, and two small blue glass beads for eyes.
Along the whole length of the body, which should be very
full, broad gold tinsel should be rather thickly lapped.
Windy and cloudy days are the most proper for the use of
this fiy. It should be cast as lightly as possible on the
water, and kept in constant motion on or near the surface.

230

and when river scenery is to be viewed in its
fullest perfection.

The rod to be used in dibbing must be about
sixteen feet long^ and its top joints must be
stiffer than those of the fly-rod. Your fly reel
and line will do^ and to the end of it you must
attach two yards of fine gut. When you use a
single hookj it must be a No. 5 Kendal. The
live flies are to be carried in a little wicker
basket^ made for the purpose at Ashborne and
at other towns in the neighbourhood. The
ends of the osier twigs are not to be cut off on
the inside of the basket^ but are to be allowed
to protrude, in order that the flies may perch
upon them, and be the more easily laid hold of.
When you fish with a single fly, insert the
hook through the back between the wings,
bringing its point slightly out under one of
them. When you bait with two flies, follow
the directions of Cotton, viz., "First take one,
and putting the point of the hook into the
thickest part of his body, under one of his
wings, run it directly through, and out at the
other side ; and then taking the other fly, put
him on after the same manner, but with his
head the contrary way ; in which posture they
will live upon the hook, and play with their
wings, for a quarter of an hour or more ; but
you must have a care to keep their wings dry.

231

both from the water^ and also that your fingers
be not wet, when you take them out [of the
basket] to bait them, for then your bait is
spoiled." A very good plan, when you dib with
two flies at a time, is to use a double No. 2
Kendal hook, passing one hook through the
back between the wings of one fly, and doing
the same to the second fly placed in a reversed
position.

You must keep yourself as much out of
sight of the fish as possible, and always begin
dibbing near the bank on which you stand.
Fish the river then across, allowing the wind
to guide your line, and never allow an inch of
it to touch the water. Whenever you see a
fish rise, tempt him again by directing your
fly so as to make it float over him. As soon
as you feel or see a fish rise at you, strike
as you do in artificial-fly fishing, and play him
after the method directed for that sort of
angling. Dibbing is best practised on pools,
particularly when there is a light breeze.

When you fish in wide pools in rather
windy weather, your reel-line should consist of
a water-colour floss silk line. This, generally
speaking, is by far the best line for dibbing.
You must use a very long rod — one of twenty
feet — and the rings on it must be large, and
stand stifly upright, in order that the floss-

532

line may meet with little or no obstruction
in passing through them. By taking advan-
tage of the wind, you may make your fly fall
floatingly at a very great distance from you,
indeed, with a little address, you may direct it
whithersoever you please. The greatest care
must be taken to preserve the floss-line from
touching the water, or from imbibing any
humidity. We never dibble with any other
sort of line, and we invariably use but one
hook, and but one fly at a time.

With respect to the stone-fly. Cotton's
instructions are so correct, that we will limit
ourselves to citing them. He says, ''This
stone-fly then we dape or dibble with, as with
the drake, but with this difference, that,
whereas the green-drake is common both to
stream and still, and to all hours of the day ;
we seldom dape with this, but in the streams,
(for in a whistling wind a made-fly, in the
deep, is better) and rarely but early and late,
it not being so proper for the mid-time of the
day; though a great grayling will then take it
very well in a sharp stream, and here and
there a trout too; but much better toward'
eight, nine, ten, or eleven of the clock at
night, at which time also the best fish rise,
and the later the better, provided you can see
your fly; and when you cannot, a made-fly

233

will mtirder.'' We know of no better night-fly,
when the sky is clear, than the stone-fly, par^-
ticularly in streams.

The oak-fly is chiefly found in May and
early in June, and not unfrequently in calni,
hot days in July, with its head downwards
(it is called the down-hill-fly) on the shady
side of the trunks of oak trees, and othet
large trees growing near the river's side. It
is, in those months, a good fly to dibble with.

When dibbing with the March-brown, two
flies should be used as a bait at the same time.
If abundance of those flies are on the river,
trout and grayling will rise at them with great
avidity, and if they refuse the artificial fly,
which they seldom do when it is properly
made, dibbing with the natural fly will be
certainly successful.

The house or window fly is a very killing
fly to dib with, particularly towards the evening
in the latter end of May and the beginning of
June. It should be used at all times that the
fish, gorged with, the green-drake, at last
through sheer surfeit refuse to take Jthe lat-
ter fly.

It would repay any person, who has the
slightest curiosity, for the trouble and expense
of a long journey to come into Derbyshire
during the drake- season. We have seldom

234

witnessed a prettier sights than to see the
banks of our streams crowded with persons of
every age and sex^ dibbing with the green-
drake, while that beautiful insect is seen flut-
tering by myriads on or over the water^ and
about the trees, shrubs, and plants in the
vicinity ; and the trout, now having recovered
completely from the effects of spawning, are to
be seen by hundreds with vigour and voracity
darting at this lovely *^ being of a day."

235

CHAPTER XH.

THE dove; its scenery: other trout and

GRAYLING STREAMS IN ITS VICINITY. SKETCH

OF ashborne; its church, the end.

" Well, go thy way, little Dove .' thoa art the finest river that eyer I
saw, and the fullest of fish." Cotton.

In writing about the Dove* we cannot re-
frain from touching on its scenery. We shall
do so, however, very concisely ; for we do not
wish to trench too much upon the province of
the professionsd tourist. Our business is with
the piscatory, and not with the pictorial por-
tions of the Dove. A slight combination of the
latter with the former will be deemed, in this
instance, we hope, perfectly pardonable. We
will give first, before we come to our own de-

* Cotton says it is so called from the swiftness of its cur-
rent. Sir Oswald Mosley, Bart, says, <* The Dove was so
called, from the British word " dwfr/* (water) ; and the
Derwent, from the British *< dwr," (water), and *^ gwin,*'
(white).

236

scription of certain parts of this famous stream
— and our description shall be confined to the
best fishing portions^ with their immediate
scenery — a pretty correct statistical account of
. it taken verbatim from Glover: — "The Dove
takes its rise among cavities of gritstone and
coal-shade^ near Thatch-marsh colliery, be-
tween the gi*eat and middle Axe-edge hills.
The scenery around the sources of this beautiful
river, presents tracts of barren mountainous
ridges, covered with heath, from which the tra-
veller has extensive views, on one hand, over the
fruitful and thickly-peopled plains of Staffordr
shire and Cheshire; and, on the other, the
dreary and sometimes stupendous elevations o£
the Peak. After cutting through the gritstone
rock, this «mall but rapid branch is joined by
another stream, which passes by a village called
I>ove-head, and has been selected by Walton,*
the angler, and by Exlwards, the poet of the
Dove, as the originsd stream.

* It is very odd that people wiU be confound! Dg Wajton
^ith Cotton. Walton was a mere bottom-fisher, and
knew nothing about fly-fishing- The few directions he
gives upon the art, are borrowed from Mr. Thomas Barker,
an old writer and a cotemporary. Walton knew little or
nothing of the Dove ; it was to Cotton that Glover should
have referred. The second part of '< The Complete Angw
ler/* which treats of fly-fishing, and of the rivers of Derby**
shire and Staffbrdshire, was entirely written by Cotton.
Walton had no more to do with it than ourselves.

237

f At length 'tis gain'd) the heathy doad-cq^t mountala !

Not at the haiplet of Dove-head I rest,

But, higher up, beside a bubbling fountain,
* That makes within a little well its nest.

Here iprings the Dave ! and with a grateful zest

1 4rink its waters, that first serve the poor.

O ! when shall they repose on Ocean's breast ?

How long must their rough pilgrimage endure ?

They ask not, but commence their wild romantic tour.'

Edwards,

^^The course of this extraordinary stream
passes thrice over what the geologists, who
have investigated the strata of this county,
term the great limestone fault, and, conse^
quently, intersects rocks of the earliest forma-*
tion. Through a valley, called Beresford-dale,
which is scarcely half a mile in extent, its
course is upon the fourth limestone; but in
the valley, particularly denominated Dove-dale,
it rushes amid precipitous rocks, and opens
to the inquisitive eye of the scientific student,
more of the general series of strata than is
any inhere else to be contemplated in the same
limited extent throughout England. After
passing between the two surprising hills of
limestone, Thorpe-cjioud and Bunster, the bed
of the river is formed of the debris of the
neighbouring rocks, consisting of quartz-gravel,
thin limestone, and other alluvial matter;
while, as. its waters proceed towards Ashborne,

238

they gradually enter the red marl^ but not
without bringing with them gritstone sand, and
limestone pebbles, which are in some places
along their course thickly and extensively de-
posited. Even where the Dove empties itself
into the Trent, at Newton-Solney Ford, the
red marl is covered with deposits of quartz-
sand and gravel, which the stream has carried
onward from the abrupt and mountainous
tracts through which it has passed.

" The picturesque beauty of the banks of the
Dove has been the repeated theme of travel-
lers, whether painters or poets. Mr. Rhodes,
to whose elegant work we [to wit, Mr. Glover]
are already indebted for descriptive extracts of
the richest character, says, ^The river Dove
is one of the most beautiful streams that ever
gave a charm to landscape ; and while pass-
ing along the first, and least picturesque
divisions of the dale,* the ear was soothed
with its murmurings, and the eye delighted
with the brilliancy of its waters: in some
places it flows smoothly and solemnly along,
but never slowly; in others, its motion is
rapid, impetuous, and even turbulent. The

*Mr. Rhodes, the reader is requested to ohsenre, is
merely speakiog of the Dove, as seen in its meandering
through Dove-dale. This gentleman^s pencil, in the
present instance, is painting with colours rather too warm*

239

ash^ the hazel*^ the slender osier^ and the
graceftd birch, hung with honey-suckles and
"wild-roses, dip their pensile branches in the
stream, and break its surface into beauteous
ripples. Huge fragments of stone, toppled
from the rocks above, and partly covered with
moss and plants that haunt and love the
water, divide the stream into many currents;
round these it bubbles in limpid rills, that
circle into innumerable eddies, which, by their
activity, give life and motion to a numerous
variety of aquatic plants that grow in the bed
of the river ; these wave their slender stems
under the surface of the water, which, flowing
over them, 'like the transparent varnish of a
picture, brings forth the most vivid colouring.
Occasionsdly, large stones are thrown across
the stream, and interrupt its progress; over
and among these it rushes rapidly into the
pool below, forming, in its frequent falls, a
series of fairy cascades, about which it foams
and sparkles with a beauty and brilliancy pecu-
liar to this lively and romantic river.* — The
waters of this river have a clear blue tint,
deepening through various shades to a dark
purple. The limestone over which they flow,
renders them fertile, and when they overflow
their banks in the spring, they enrich the

240

adjacent meadows. This has given occasion
to this proverb :

* In April, Dove'tJ flood
Is worth a king's good !'

^^ These floods are, however, sometimes so
sudden, that the waters have been known to
rise and fall again . in the course of a day,
carrying down their channel flocks of sheep
and herds of cattle. Such inundations are
caused by what are termed 'shots of water,'
which the Dove often receives in its course
through the mountains. Cotton, whose verses
seldom rise to any very elevated strain of
sentiment, has, in his quaint poem on the
Wonders of the Peak, the following lines on
the Dove, which constitute its most beautiful
passage :*

< Thy murmurs, Dove,

Pleasing to lovers^ or men fall'n in love.

With thy bright beauties, and thy fair blue eyes.

Wound like a Parthian, while the shooter flies.

Of all fair Thetis* daughters none so bright,

So pleasant to the taste — none to the sight —

None yields the gentle angler such delight : —

To which the bounty of her stream is such,

As only with a swift and transient touch,

T* enricli her barren borders as she glides,

And force sweet flowers from their marble sides.' "

* This criticism is Mr. Glover's— not ours. See Glov#*Oi
8vo. edition, vol. 1, part 1, page 36.

241

We begin our sketch of the Dove at the
spot called Dove-head^ and/ following the
opinion of Cotton^ we will assume that the
stream begins there. Dove-head is about ten
miles to the north of Beresford-hall, and the
rivulet at the former spot is not more than a
yard wide. From Dove-head to Glutton-
bridge there is no angling; but at the latter
place^ where the stream is not more than
between two and three yards wide, a few trout
may be taken with the fly in the beginning
of the season. This bridge is about four miles
from Dove-head, and the stream widening in
its course, there is tolerable angling, in the
spring, when the water is full, to Ludwell,
which is about three miles from Glutton-
bridge. From Ludwell to Hartington fishing
becomes better, and the angler in the early
part of the year will be as successful in the
streams about this spot as in any other part of
Dove-dale. Accommodation and refreshment
can be obtained at Hartington, things very
scarce in the northern parts of the Dale.
From Hartington to Beresford-hall is a mile.
Beresford-hall, once the residence of the fa-
mous Cotton, is situated on the Staffordshire
side of the stream, and is now a farm-house
inhabited by Mrs. Hannah Gibbs. It is in
good repair, and we were told, that its interior

242

arrangement, with the exception of one loom^
is the same as in the time of Cotton. .There
are some handsome plantations laid out around
it. Cotton's fishing-house was repaired about
three years ago, and is now nearly in the same
state as when the original constructor of it
described it. All those repairs and improve-
ments are owing to the good taste of the actual
owner, the, Marquis of Beresford. Beresford-
hall is about three miles and a half from
Mill-dale, and there is very good fishing in the
different parts of the river between those two
places. The scenery of the portion of the river
just described, that is, from Dove-head to
Mill-dale, is somewhat monotonous. It is
wild, bleak, and betokens barrenness, and the
river, in its course, during this distance, flows
between steep hills, that have scarcely a tree
or plant to break the cheerless sameness of
their surface. At Mill-dale, on the Stafford-
shire side, are a few miserable houses, forming
a sort of village, or hamlet^ on the margin of
the river, close under perpendicular cMSs of
great height, and as wildly situated as the
greatest lover erf the extreme picturesque could
desire. Few mere visitors penetrate the Dale
so far north as this collection of huts, but
anglers ought; and if they inquire for an old
and unfortunate brother of the angle^ called

243

Sampson- Hastings^ they will find him located
in a sort of jshed, built in the ruins of his moun.
tain cot, which was burnt down a short time
since. It will be a real charity to employ this
poor veteran a^s a guide, and, candidly speaking,
we know no man who has a more exact know-
ledge of the Dove in its passage through the
Dale.

From Mill-dale to a large isolated rocky
column -^ called Ham Stone — the scenery is
the same as hitherto described. The stream
now grows wider, and varies from twelve to
twenty yards in its further progress through the
Dale. From Ham Stone to Reynard's Hall,
and to the rocks called Dove-dale Church, the
scenery is extremely imposing. On this sub-
ject we will quote an excellent description by
the Rev. D. P. Davies: — *^ Reynard's Hall is a
natural cave of forty-five feet in length, fifteen
in breadth, and thirty in height. From the
mouth of this cavern, the scene is singular,
beautiful, and impressive. The face of the rock
which contains the arch, rises immediately in
front, and would effectually prevent the eye
from ranging beyond its mighty barrier, did not
its centre open into the above-mentioned arch,
through which is seen a small part of the oppo-
site side of the Dale, a mass of gloomy wood,
from whose shade a huge detached rock, soli-

244

tary^ craggy^ and pointed, starts out to a great^
height, and forms an object truly sublime.
This rock is known by the appellation of Dove-
dale Churchy and is pleasingly contrasted by the
little pastoral river, and its verdant turfy bank
below. The approach to these natural excava-
tions — Reynard's Hole and Hall — is very difr
ficult of access even on foot, but impracticable
on horse-back : the latter [mode of ascending],
however, was unfortunately tried about seventy
years ago. The Rev. Mr. Langton, Dean of
Clogher, in Ireland, proposed to ascend on
horse-back a very steep precipice, near Rey-
nard's Hole, apparently between three and four
hundred feet high ; and Miss La Roche, a
young lady of the dean's party, agreed to ac-
company him on the same horse. When they
had climbed the rock to a considerable height,
the poor animal, unable to sustain the fatigue of
the task imposed upon him, fell under his bur-
den and rolled down the steep. The dean was
precipitated to the bottom, where he was taken
up so bruised and mangled by the fall, that he
expired in a few days after, and was buried in
Ashborne church : but the young lady, whose
descent had been retarded by her hair entang-
ling in a bramble bush, slowly recovered;
though when disengaged, she was insensible,
and continued so for two days. The horse.

245

more fortunate than its riders, was but very
slightly injured." The fishing in the neigh-
bourhood of Reynard's Hall is excellent.
Nearly opposite its base^ runs two very capital
streams^ the upper one called Great Sharplow,
and the lower one named Little Sharplow.
From this spot there is a constant succession of
beautiful streams^ running through the most
picturesque portion of the Dale, until you
come to a part of the river denominated Sedgy
Pool, from the quantity of sedges it produ-
ces. The fishing in this pool is good, and at
the bottom of it is a weir, forming an excellent
stream. This stream is nearly at the entrance
of the Dale as you approach it from Ashborne,
via the little village of Thorpe.* There ai-e

* *' A little to the Dorth of the vUIage, is Thorpe Cloud,
a conical hill, of very steep ascent, which rises to a great
height. Near this is a tolerably good descent, into a deep
hollow called Bunster-dale ; one side of which is bounded
by a steep acclivity, covered with wood ; and the other by
a range of lofty crag^, of wild, uncouth appearance. Pass-
ing through the narrow ravine (where the eye is prevented
from excursion, and the mind thrown back upon itself) for
half a mile, a sudden turn presents the eye with the south-
ern entrance of the far-famed and romantic Dove-dale, a
name it has received from the river Dove, which pours its
waters through the valley. On entering Dove-dale, it is
impossible not to be struck with the almost instantaneous
change of scenery, so different from the surrounding coun-
try. Here, instead of the brown heath, or the rich cultiva-
ted meadow, rocks abrupt and vast, their grey sides
harmonised by mosses, lichens, and yew trees, their tops
sprinkled with mountain-ash, rise on eaeh side. The

246

several good streams winding nearly round ihe
celebrated conical elevation called Thorpe
Cloudy and from it^ through several fields, called
Thorpe Pingles,* for a distance of about half a
mile, flow in a southern direction several excel-
lent streams. The Dove then runs for nearly
the same distance through banks which are so

mountains that inclose this narrow dell rise very preclpi-
toaS) and bear on their sides fragments of rock, that, at a
distance, look like the remains of some ruined castle. After
proceeding a little way, a deep and narrow valley presents
itself, into whose recesses the eye is prevented from pene-
trating, by the winding course it pordues, and the shutting
in of its precipices, which fold into each other, and preclude
all distant view. On proceeding, the scenery of Dove-dale
gradually increases in majesty and rudeness/' Davies,

The Dove used to be formerly preserved in the Dale, as
fkr as it ran through the property of Mr. Jesse Watts Rus-
sell and Sir Henry Fitz-Herbert, Bart., and then there was
excellent fishing in it. Every one may lash it now, and
the consequence is, that fishing in it is not half so good as
in the Dove after it joins the Manifold. Indeed, the only
season in which we can conscientiously advise our readers
to angle in Dove-date is the spring, and the earlier in that
quarter of the year the better. Having mentioned the
name of Sir Henry Fitz-Herbert, although in so obscure a
part of the work as in a note, we cannot help telling our
readers, that to no person in the list of our subscribers are
we so much indebted as to that gentleman. His exertions,
and that of his family in our favour, have been so warm,
that we are almost tempted to call them friendly. If ever
this work comes to a second edition, we will try to show
part of our gratitude to the illustrious family of the Fit^
Herberts.

* In the vicinity is a very ooavetiient inn, called the
Izaak Walton, kept by a very obliging landlord of the ap-
propriate name of Waterfall.

247

tbicldy covered with alders and other trees^ as
to render it very difficult to be fly-fished, after
which it joins the Manifold, a stream that has
its second rise in the neighbourhood of Ilam-
halL* The Dove now becomes a mueh wider
and deeper stream, and a little below its junc-
tion with the Manifold, is a fine sheet of water
called Flaxly Pool, noted for its large trout and
grayling. Between this pool and Coldwall-
bridge, is a gentle stream of considerable
length, and one of the best in the unpreserved
portions of the river. From the bridge thus
named, there is a succession of excellent
streams, until you come to a fine sheet of water
called Peg's Hole. From this sbeet of water,
until you come to a pari of the river called
Thorpe Ruff or Thorpe Budds, there are several
excellent streams, but which are not easily fly-
fished, on account of the many trees growing on
their banks. The river now presents — run-
ning south-east — a good succession of pool
and stream, until you arrive at Oakover-bridge.
From half a mile or thereabouts below this
bridge, every one has liberty to fish, and the
streams are excellent ones as tax as Hanging-
bridge. On the north side of this bridge is a
fine sheet of water called Garden-wheel, a no-
ted place for dibbing with the green-drake and

* Vide cut at the end of the 10th. chapter.

248

other natural flies. Hanging-bridge is not a bad
fishing-station^ and excellent accommodation
may be had at the King's Arms, a very clean
public-house, kept by a person of the name of
Sandys. The scenery from Coldwall-bridge
to Hanging-bridge, is remarkably beautiful^
particularly on the Staffordshire side of the
Dove. It is not like the scenery of Dove-dale,
such as Salvator Rosa would choose to paint,,
but our friend Linton would find many parts of
it suitable to his fine English taste.

To the south of Hanging-bridge, opposite
to a large cotton factory, belonging to John
Douglas Cooper, Esq. a gentleman of the most
punctilious probity, and curious in all that
relates to the natural history of the fish of the
Dove, and the insects they feed upon, are
a fine stream and pool; and a little lower
down, is a beautiful sheet of water, called
Barnet's Dam, frequented by the lovers of
dibbing and bottom-fishing. The angler next
arrives at May-field Weir, at which there is
good fishing all along to a noted spot, called
Lunch. The next good spot is, the pool that'
flows to Sides-mill Weir. From this weir to
Calwich Liberty, the fishing is very good.
The Derbyshire side of the water belongs to
a very extensive landed proprietor, John Har-
rison, Esq. a gentleman of great influence

249

• • • r " *

and excellent character^ and owner of the
beautiful mansion^ not far from the river^
called Snelston-hall. The Staffordshire side^
as far as Calwich Weir, belongs to Wil-
liam Greaves, Esq. M. D. of May-field-hall,
whose professional exertions are ever put for-
ward in behalf of the poor with disinterested
zeal and humanity. From Calwich Weir to
EUaston Bridge, there is no better fishing on
any part of the river, which is chiefly to be
attributed to Salt, the indefatigable and cou-
rageous keeper of Court Granville, Esq.
Calwich Abbey, the seat of this gentleman —
who is of most ancient descent, and of most
blameless reputation, and whose noble cha-
i*acter has been rewarded with one of the
finest and most numerous families of sons and
daughters in England — is romantically situ-
ated nearly opposite the pretty church of
Norbury, on the Staffordshire side of the
Dove. To this family we acknowledge our*
selves indebted for innumerable favours, con*
ferred in the handsomest manner. Norbury
Pool and Weir, and the streams succeeding, as
far as Ellaston bridge, are full of trout and
grayling. To the south of the bridge, there
is good fishing as far as Rocester, particularly
at a beautiful spot, called Dove Leys, on the
Staffordshire side, belonging to Benjamin

M 5

250

Heywood, the celebrated banker ei Manches*
ter. From Rocester^ all along to Uttoxeter^
there is good fishing; but beyond the latter
town, we are not sufficiently acquainted with
the localities of the river^ to justify us in
praising any particular parts of it. The fishing
fi-om Uttoxeter to the Trent is not, we under-
stand, of a decidedly good character.

7%^ Derwent is a river of great celebrity in
Derbyshire. It rises in the Peak, and flows
by Hathersage, Chatsworth, Rowsley, below
the bridge of which village it receives the
Wye. It then flows through Matlock, Crom-
ford, Belper, Derby, and joins the Trent near
the village of Wilne. The fishing in it is
good in the neighbourhood of Rowsley and
Matlock, and for seven miles below Matlock-
bridge. The flies that are taken in the Dove
will kill in the Derwent.

Tlie Wye^ an excellent trout stream, rises
among the Axe-edge hills, flows by Buxton
and Bakewell, and empties itself into the
Derwent below Rowsley-bridge. The fishing
in it is of the very fii'st order, particularly
from Bakewell to Rowsley, and its course,
between those two places, is amid scenery of
the most lovely character. In this respect, it
will be enough to mention, that it flows almost
at the base of the well-known Haddcn-hall.

251

The river is strictly preserved from poachers^
by the orders of his Grace the Duke of Rut-
land; but any gentleman that stops at the
Rutland Arms can obtain permission to angle
in it, through the medium of Mr. W. Greaves,
the landlord.

We take this opportunity of mentioning
the pretty town of Bakewell, as one of the best
fishing-stations in England, and of recom-
mending the Rutland Arms, in this town, as
an inn second to none in any country town
of the midland counties. Mr. Greaves, the
landlord, whose polite and unceasing attention
to his guests is; proverbial, is ever ready to
give those who are "brothers of the angle'*
every facility and every information the most
enthusiastic of them may require in the pur-
suit of their favourite amusement. He can
give them the best information relative to the
many excellent trout and grayling streams in
his neighbourhood.

Tlie Lathkil^ famous for the colour and
the quantity of its trout, rises among the hills
near Monyash, and joins the Bradford at the
foot of the Tor. No one, but the immediate
relatives and friends of his Grace the Duke
of Rutland, is allowed to fish in this cele-
brated little stream. It is better adapted for
minnow-fishing than fly-fishing, and, notwith-

^ I

252

standing the high-pink colour of its troat,
their flavour is not good.

The Chumet is a good stream for trout, and
many persons think highly of the quality of
its grayling. There are too many coarse fish
in it^ to allow it to be a stream to our liking.
It flows by the town of Leek, but on account
of the efiect of the silk-dying mills, in that
town and its neighbourhood, on the water,
there is no fishing till the angler arrives at
Oakmoor Wire-mills. From these mills to
where the Churnet empties itself into the
Dove, between Rocester and Crake Marsh,
there is very tolerable fishing. The flies to
be used are to be the same as those that suit
the Dove, but they must be much larger, and
dressed on a No. 4 Kendal hook.

JTie Blythe abounds in trout and grayling.
It rises in the neighbourhood of Watley-moor,
and falls into the Trent near King's Bromley.
Its scenery is worthy of notice in the vicinity
of Blithefield, the scat of Lord Bagot, but no
where else. The same flies that are taken in
the Churnet will kill in the Blythe. It is a
capital river for spinning the minnow.

There are several brooks in the neighbour*
hood of Ashborne famous for their trout.
The following are the principal ones.

Bradbourn-brook has excellent trout, and the

253

best fishing in it is, from Bradboum-mill to
Wood-eaves cotton-mill. The same flies that
are taken in the Dove will kill in it, but the
surest bait is the minnow.

Cubley-brook rises near the village of the
same name, and there is good trout-fishing in
it firom Cubley-mill to where it runs into
Boylstone-brook. It is very narrow and
woody, and cannot be easily fly-fished. The
flies must be showy ones, dressed on a No. 4
Kendal hook. The minnow-fishing in it is
excellent.

Boylstone-brook may be fished with fair
success, as far as Foston-dam, with the min-
now. It is too narrow and too woody to be
fished with the artificial fly.

Fostcn-brook can be fished with the minnow
from the before-mentioned dam to near Sud-
bury, where it runs into the Dove.

Brailsford'brook may be fished with good
success, from the mill to where it runs into
Longford-brook. Its trout are of excellent
quality, and must be fished for with the*
minnow.

Longford-brook, as it flows from the mill
of the same name, becomes wide enough for
fly-fishing, and it may be successfully fished
with the fly or minnow, for about the distance
of a mile and a half, until it runs into Barton-

254

bcook. The trout of Longford-brook are
nearly as highly coloured as salmon^ and, for
flavour, are not surpassed by those of any
stream in England.

JSarton-brook has the same general charac-
teristics as the former ones just described^
but^ iMing better preserved, there isy of course,
more fish in it. It may be fished with success
as far as Sutton^dam. Use gaudy fliev, of a
large size. Fishing with the minnow is
excellent, and the trout of this brook are as
good as those of the last-mentioned brook.

Our fishing lectures are now done and over,
and we really hope that they will prove a
source of amusement to each and all of. our
readers. Of one thing we are positzvelysur^
and that is, that if they are read' with care,
and their precepts remembered, they will
make every, one, that does so,, thoroughly
versed in the theory of fly-fishing. Let that
theory be but slightly put into prad;ioe, and
we answer for the sure and rapid progress of
our pupils. If any of them should wish for
more practical information, we are most ready
to afford it,, and we beg to offer them the most
cordial invitation, to .

Ashborne: — > Before we point out die con-
venient locality as a fishing-station of this
charming little town, weshall give a brief de-

255

scciption of it. It is situated about one hundred
and forty miles (N. W. by N*) from London*
Its distance from Dei'by is thirteen and a half
miles, (N. W. by W.) ,• from Matlock, twelve
miles, (S. W.) ; from Leek, sixteen miles,
(S. E.); and from Bakewell, eighteen miles,
(S. W)» The town being situated in a deep val-
ley, and surrounded nearly on all sides by hills,
IS not visible until you arrive almost upon it.
The spire of its handsome church is, generally
speaking, that which first indicates to you your
approach to a town. We like such an indica*
tion — it is, as it were, religion directing you to
the congregated habitations of man. We will
suppose the traveller coming from London via
Derby. The first glimpse he catches of Ash-
borne is from the top of the ** new road," which
leads by a rapid descent into the southern part
of the* town, called Compton. As soon as he
arrives on the summit alluded to, he sees, ra-
ther to the right, Ashborne-hall,* the hand-
some country residence of Sir Wm. Boothby
Bart. Before him he sees, stretching right and
left, the town. On the extreme left he catches
a view — a one-sided one — of the church. In
the back-ground to the north is a range of hills,
studded with houses almost to their summits.

*Tide vignette at the end of the 7th. chapter.

256

In the hi' distance of that northern back-ground^
he will perceive the hill called "Thorpe Cloud,"
and the peaks of other hills, which inform him^
that between their irregular bases is situated
the renowned Dove-dale. A pretty little brook^
now called Compton-brook, and formerly
named the Schoo or Henmore, and' in times
gone by, celebrated for the excellent quality of
its trout,* runs irregularly on the south of the
town. When the traveller has crossed the
bridge over this brook, and arrived at the
northern end of Dig-street, he finds himself in
that part of the town from which he can best
judge of its interior locality.

He will then see, on his left, in a line,
Church-street, decidedly the best street in the
town, and, on account of the many large and
well-built mansions in it, it would really
be a fine street, were it not that its beauty
is blemished by the irregularity of the build-
ings, some of which are little better than mere
hovels. At the left-end of this street is situa-
ted the church; and almost the last building, on
the right-side of the street at the same end, is

• *' Viator : — Bat what pretty river is thift, that runs un-
der this stone bridge ? — has it a name ?

** Piscator : — Yes, it is called Henmore ; and has in it
both troat and grayling^." Cotton.

The poachers have long since taken them out. They
may return when the poachers are taken out of Ashborne
— but not before.

257

tbe free grammar-school^ founded in the reign
pf Elizabeth^ and a handsome specimen of the
architecture of that age. It is now under the
able superintendance of the Rev. G. E. Gepp.
Supposing the traveller still in the same place,
he s^s extending directly on his right, John
Street, which is terminated by the wall of Ash-
borne-hall. A short way up John Street, on
the left, is the market-place; from the top of
which, the stranger, after having taken the sur-
vey just pointed out, may form to himself a
pretty accurate notion of the whole of the town;
However, to use the words of Mr. Brayley,
" Though Ashborne is agreeably situated to the
eye, it being in a fertile vale, with the hills ri-
sing rather bold, yet the objects are too much
scattered for a picture;" and we will add, for a
clear and intelligible typographical description.
Some of the most remarkable historical
events that occuiTed in Ashborne, are the fol-
lowing: — A battle took place in the neighbour-
hood of the town between the royalists and
the parliamentarians in February, 1644; in
which the former were worsted, with considera-
ble loss. Charles I. remained at Ashborne
during the battle. In the month of August of
the year following, in his march through the
Peak to Doncaster, he stopped to hear divine
service performed in the church. One hun-

258

dred yBars later (1745) Charles Edward,
attended by the dukes of Athol and Perth,
on their niardi to and from Derby^ halted at
Ashborne* The prince and his officers took
forcible possession of Ashbome-hall, espeUing
Sir Brooke Boothhy and his family. Some of
the officers wrote their names on the doors of
the different rooms in which they slept, and
the inscriptions were legible until they were
defaced by the late Sir Brooke Boothby. The
bed in which young Stuart slept is in the
possession of the author.

As a fishing-station^- we mean, of course,
fly-fishing' — Ashborne is unrivalled. It is
situated within less than a mile of some of the
best parts of the Dove, and within three or
four miles of the very best. Behind it, on the
north, at the distance of a few hundred yards,
runs Bentley-brook, in which, at the beginning
of the season, pretty good fishing may be had.
If it were preserved from the depredations of
the gentlemen cf the net and night-line, it
would be a beautiful little trout stream. If
not worth fishing in, it is worth looking at.
Bradboum, Cubley, Boylstone, Foston, Bar-
ton, Brailsford, and Longford brooks, all
abounding in excellent trout, are about from
lour to eight miles distant. It is within a
morning's walk of the Wye, the Derwent, the

259

Chumet, the Blythe, the Manifold^ and the
0elebrated Lathkil^ whose excellence^ eithev
as trout or grayling streams^ has been more
particularly noticed in a preceding part of the
chapter. Situated as Ashborne is, almost on
the banks of the Dove, and surrounded by
several other streams, some of them of nearly
equal celebrity, it is not surprising if its
inhabitants are extremely partial to fly-fishing
^id trolling. They are ; and no town in
England can produce, taking its size into the
calculation, so many perfect proficients in those
two modes of angling. The stranger^ there-
fore, who comes, for the first time, to angle in
the streams of Derbyshire and Staffordshire,
can obtain every information at Ashborne,
relative to the object of his visit. He need
but put up at the Green-man or at the Wheat-
sheaf — the two best hotels in the town — and
the proprietors will inform him wher^ he may
obtain, most correctly and faithfully, the
requisite information. We do not mention
the superiority of those hotels for the purpose
of bribing their proprietors : they are above
it. However, we think we know to whom
they will direct their angling guests, who
either seek for local information as to fly-fish-
ing, or for rods, tackle, or flies* It may be
to ourselves, or it may not — but we think the

260

party does not live one Hundred inileEr from
either hotel. Moreover, the stranger will find;
at the close of the day, when his angling
amusements are for the time terminated, a
social and friendly reception, if he choose to
repair to any of the public rooms frequented
by a mixed company. One of the writers of
this book is a stranger, temporarily, he fears,
sojourning in the town of Ashborne, and,
speaking from experience, he assures all stran-
gers of social hearts and dispositions, that
they will find kindred spirits there, and that
it will be with a strong feeling of regret that
they will sigh farewell to Ashborne.

Long, long before we came to Ashborne, we
heard of the beauty of its church, and though
our imaginations are pretty warm, and apt to
be too highly excited by previous description,
we were not disappointed when we first beheld
it. If we were, it was agreeably so. The
beauty of this church is, that there is nothing
extravagant — nothing running to extremes —
in its architecture. We have seen churches
more striking in their appearance, either from
over-wrought and over-mixed decoration, or,
strange as it may appear, from their extreme,
their naked simplicity; but we do not recol-
lect having seen a church more likely to please
the man of chastened taste. It is very difficult

261

to decide from what point it can be seen to
the greatest advantage. Sach is the happiness
of its situation^ that on all sides it presents a
beautiful object. We think^ however, that it
looks best from certain pturts of the Sudbury
road; but that notion has been frequently
shaken when we have seen it in the distance,
on a summer's evening, when returning from
a fishing excursion to Norbury or to Calwich*
Generally speaking, the different western
points are the most favourable to view it from.
It is, considering the smallness of the town, a
spacious edifice. Its body is cruciform. It
has a square central tower, surmounted by a
light, lofty, and elegantly-ornamented octagonal
spire, pierced with twenty windows. The
style of its architecture, is the early English,
but extremely modified by an intermixture of
alterations and decorations of a later date.
The piers and arches of the nave are fine, and
bear the characteristics of the early English
style. The same may be said of the chancel,
which has a high window on the east, and two
stone-stalls. The windows of the north tran-
sept are decorated ; there is but one window,
perpendicular and of large dimensions, in the
south transept. The door-ways, which are
numerous, are of the early English style, and
are in good repair. In truth, the whole exterior

262

of the church bears the stamp of extraordinar;
fireshness — the walks of the church-yard^
the different gates opening into it^ have the
same renovated appearance ; and we have been
assured, that all this is to be attributed chiefly
to the exertions of the person, who has for
several successive years filled with laudable
zeal the office of what is termed ^^ the vicar^s
churchwarden." The name of the genUeman
alluded to is Lister, who, now that he has
accumulated by his own industry an ample
fortune, and raised himself to the enviable
post of being one of the most wealthy and
respectable tradesmen in the town, shows his
gratitude to God by devoting much time and
much labour to beautifying and strengthening
that God's house <rf prayer. We hope, that
in a future edition we shall have to record, that
the interior of the church has undergone a new
arrangement under the directions of that clever
architect Mr. Cottingham. We know that Mr.
Lister for one is endeavouring to bring about
so desirable a consummation.

In the sepulchral chapel, belonging to the
Boothby &mily, situated on the northern side
of the chancel, is a monumental statue of very
wide celebrity. Rhodes's description oi it
being brief, we shall quote that author: -r— " It
is in memory of Miss Boothby (a lovely little

2G3

girl^ who died at the age of five, daiighter of
Sir Brooke Boothby), from the chisel of
T. Banks, R. A. which, for execation and design,
would do credit to the talents of any artist
On a marble pedestal, a mattress, sculptured
from the same material, is laid; on this the
child reposes, but apparently not in quiet ; her
head reclines on a pillow, but the disposition
of the whole figure indicates restlessness.
The little sufierer, indeed, appears as if she
had just changed her position, by one of those
frequent turnings to which illness often in vain
resorts for relief from pain." There are four
inscriptions on the tablet of this exquisite
monument — all bearing testimony to the feel-
ings and learning of the afflicted parent — in
English, Latin^ Italian, and French. We pre-
fer the English and French ones, particularly
on account of the melancholy ideas expressed
in the latter portions of them*

It shows, perhaps, wrong taste in us to touch
upon such grave matters in a fishing-book.
But let the reader reflecl> that we are just at
the end of our work — that such a position
naturally suggests to the mind, that some day
will' arrive — it may be near or it may be
remote — when there will be a final end to
all our earthly labours — let him suppose us, as
we really are, writing by the twilight of a dark.

ctAA, and sleety day of April — and he will
not be Bnrprised that serious subjects and
solemn thoeghts should be congenial to our
mind What ia more, though we hare just
concluded the cmnpoeiHon of a - book on a
recreative art, let not tbe reader deem it
strange or unkind, botb as it regards him and
ourselves, that our parting wish shouhi be, that
his and our bones may never find a less hallow-
ed place of repose, than in some quiet And
concealed comer of the conseci'ated ground on
which is f«mded this beautiful

Primal b) ThnoiM Ricli

THB NBW YORK PUBUG UBRARY

HBFBRBNGB DBPARTMBNT

'^This book is under no oiroiuBStanees
taken from the

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